


Night Sky

by Aquamarinesong



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Choice Arc, Flame Zombies, Gen, Haru&Kyoko get screentime, Millefiore Conflict, No cardboard cut-out female characters, OC Vongola medic, Ten Years Later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-07
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-07-12 23:22:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7127999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquamarinesong/pseuds/Aquamarinesong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>TYL-AU, the 10th generation Vongola has been sent to the future to defeat the Millefiore famiglia, but what effect does the enigmatic medic of the Namimori base have on this future? And most importantly: where the hell did the things they called 'flame zombies' come from?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ten Years Later: Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I got side-tracked by KHR-fictions, don't worry I'll update Soul Dream soon.
> 
> This fiction had originally been planned as a crossover, but I decided against it. Kudos to anyone who can find out which Anime/Manga it was supposed to be with.

Did you know? There are seven flames in the skies. Yellow flames of the sun, blue flames of rain, green flames of lightning, red flames of the storm, purple flames of the clouds, indigo coloured flames of the mist and the all-encompassing orange flames of the sky. Every person has a flame inside themselves. Quietly burning. Their will to live. But only very few know these flames can be used to strengthen one's self. It is a secret guarded very well in the underworld. Only people in the mafia are taught to utilise these flames. These people are called "flame-active".

Unfortunately these flames are also use to fight and the stronger a famiglia's flame user the more feared they are.

That is the reason this whole fiasco even started.

* * *

 

They had just asked Lal Mirch to train them when Tsuna heard a light chuckle from behind them. He ignored it in favour of looking at the slightly older teen to convey their serious desire to learn.

At least until Yamamoto found himself glomped by the girl who most likely had been the one to chuckle before. She was maybe a couple of years older than them but to their surprise also a few centimetres taller than Yamamoto. Tsuna turned towards his "assaulted" friend in worry which quickly morphed to surprise when he saw his usually so unflappable friend blushing bright red. But Tsuna could quickly determine why that was the case: the girl's chest was pressed flush against his back.

"Takeshi, you're so small!" she exclaimed, "you don't really look like you're 24 anymore. Did you overdo the anti-age treatments while I was gone?"

Lal Mirch just levelled her with a flat stare.

"Of course he doesn't look 24, they're all only 14." she stated blandly.

The blond blinked owlishly before she proceeded to look over the confused teen.

"I didn't know you were this cute at this age! You really shouldn't have hidden the photo albums at home!" she giggled hugging him from behind again and hanging her head over his shoulder.

The teen in question turned red as a tomato and also his friends next to him did when they realised the implications in her statements. Apparently she was not only familiar enough with Yamamoto to call him only by his first name without honourifics but also to hug him openly and then she apparently lived together with him. Were they...? No, Tsuna couldn't make out a ring on her finger. But living together without being married was frowned upon in their society... Was Yamamoto in such a immoral relationship...?!

Lal Mirch sighed loudly.

"There you broke them."

Letting go of Yamamoto the girl pouted.

"Not true. Broken drools more."

The CEDEF agent levelled her with a flat look but didn't deign to reply to this statement. Instead she asked:

"Where were you? You were gone for quite a while according to Yamamoto. They were just about to call for search parties. Again."

"A couple of errands." she replied noncommittally while holding up a shopping bag from one of the local supermarkets before turning back to the boys.

"No seriously, you guys were so cute when you were fourteen. A shame I only came to Namimori when you were already in your second year of high school. But where are my manners? I'm Hine Ayumi but you can call me Ayumi. You meet me three years from the time you came from when I start working in TakeSushi and later become your live-in tutor, Takeshi."

Tsuna and his two Guardians blinked a couple of times before Yamamoto laughed.

"I guess I'm like you then, Tsuna."

To which Gokudera of course instantly objected, "Don't compare yourself to the tenth!"

While Tsuna looks absolutely stupefied.

"But you're younger than future-us!"

She stomped one foot down in a childish manner while turning to Lal Mirch to moan, "why does everyone hold that against me?"

The bluenette just shrugged.

"Anyway it's nice to see you again, Ayumi."

That seemed to be enough for the blonde teen to bounce back to her happy persona.

"It's been ages. We have to catch up with cake and coffee sometime soon."

Lal Mirch hummed in acceptance to which Hine smiled brightly.

"Great! I'll make the cake now!"

Gokudera frowned.

"Great, another air head."

She didn't get far though, as Lambo and I-Pin ran into the room. Furthermore Lambo was holding an armful of guns.

"Look, Tsuna, Look! Lots of fire power!" he exclaimed gleefully.

Tsuna freaked out and ran to the little boy to get him to sit still for once, but obviously had no such luck.

Hine sighed and smiled indulgently.

She walked up behind Tsuna and gently took the guns from Lambo as she lifted him onto her hip with one arm.

"Ayumi-nee-chan!" the little boy exclaimed happily.

The blond smiled gently at the boy.

"Hello, there, Lambo-kun. How are you? We haven't seen each other in quite a while. Have you been behaving?"

Stunned Tsuna cried out, "Hie, Lambo, you know her?!"

Lambo looked at Tsuna incredulously.

"Of course Lambo-san knows Ayumi-nee-chan! She always gives Lambo-san cake if she is around when the pink smoke leaves." he said as if it were outrageous that Tsuna didn't know this.

Hine shook her head fondly and bopped his nose in admonition.

"Manners, Lambo-kun."

Of course Lambo didn't heed the mild admonishing. Instead of admitting his wrongdoing he demanded, "Play with me, Ayumi-nee-chan."

"Ah, that makes sense." Yamamoto mused loudly as if he actually thought Lambo's explanation made sense. Remembering how he still thought the whole mafia business was only a game, Tsuna mused, that might actually be the case.

Gokudera seemed to want to object was however distracted by a crash in the kitchen. Instantly Tsuna ran there followed by his two Guardians.

Only to find something black bloating out from below the sink. It turned out Giannini, the strange apprentice weapons tuner and inventor who had messed up their weapons back in their time, had gotten stuck under the sink in the kitchen while searching for place to store his tools and parts.

The older girl had followed the boys to the kitchen at a more sedate pace. Lambo was chattering a mile a minute and generally enjoying being carried, while she let him talk and hummed at appropriate intervals.

She gently let Lambo down, who ran over to Tsuna to ask him to play with him. That was when the rotund mecha-artist caught sight of the blond.

"Eh, Ayumi?" Giannini asked incredulously, "You entered the base undetected again?!"

The boys turned towards her with wide eyes.

"Did I?" she asked and shrugged innocently as if it were the most normal thing in the world to enter a secret mafia hide-out completely undetected. Then after a moment of thought she added, "You left the fourth hatch open. You should really close it."

"But the disruption barrier should have still picked up on your entering! I upgraded all of the sensors and all of the security cameras in these last two weeks! Nobody should be able to enter without detection!"

Tsuna looked at the girl incredulously. How?

The girl smiled calmly. An air of serenity surrounded her as she walked over to them.

"You focused them on flames again, didn't you, Giannini?" she asked indulgently, "Do I have to remind you again that won't work on me? Didn't you say yourself: I emit no flame wavelength whatsoever since I'm obviously not such a pyromaniac as you guys."

Tsuna frowned.

So she didn't have flames. That meant she wasn't involved in the mafia right? Then what was she doing here?

Giannini pulled at his already thin hair.

"Arg! Even though I made them so sensitive they can even pick up the faintest latent flame!" he lamented.

He was interrupted however when a pungent smell permeated the air.

"Ah, the curry is burning." the blond commented lightly.

Instantly a scramble to save said dish ensued. Sadly, the girls couldn't save the dish anymore. Their long faces were evidence enough.

The blond girl threw one look at the pot and rolled up her sleeves. She motioned for the two five-year-olds to come to her and crouched down.

"I guess the curry's lost. Lambo-kun, would you and I-Pin-chan mind helping me make something else for dinner?"

Both of them nodded eagerly and set out to follow their (new) big sister's orders. Soon the rest of the girls joined the effort to get dinner on the table sooner after their unlucky first try with the curry.

Once served the dinner was consumed with the vigour of a horde of starving people.

Tsuna saw Hine watching them with a smile, while answering the girls' questions concerning her person as she was eating slowly.

Apparently she was a good friend of theirs from their high school time, as well as Yamamoto's tutor as she had mentioned earlier. She also knew how hopeless the boys were when it came to cooking because, so she told them, she was the one who taught their future selves how to cook.

That was how Lal Mirch found them when she burst into the kitchen and announced she agreed to train them.

Tsuna didn't quite know what to make out of Hine's small mischievous smile at this statement. But it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared once Lal Mirch had stated to explain about the Millefiore and the famiglias it was merged from. With an unreadable expression she suddenly excused herself after ensuring it was okay with the girls for them to do the dishes. Although they were surprised by the sudden request, the girls didn't mind. Mere moments later Hine had left the room without another word.

Tsuna hadn't noticed until after the blonde was gone, but the older teen's departure had broken up the CEDEF member's explanation as she sighed and watched the other girl leave with a somber look on her face. Then she clapped her hands and announced: "Let's begin the first lesson. One of you, anyone will do. This box has never been opened. Take the box and open it. But not here, we're moving locations."

* * *

 

Takeshi let out a small yawn and finally decided to call it a night after training by himself for a while. Tsuna had long since gone to bed and it had been quite a while since he heard anything from down the hall where Gokudera had been training. Leisurely Takeshi made his way back towards the room he shared with his friends when something made him stop.

Small sobs from the kitchen made him curious of who it was that was crying so heartwrenchingly. He opened the door silently and looked inside to see the blond girl, Hine Ayumi-san he reminded himself, from earlier hunched over the dining table in the dark her face in the palms of her hands.

"What's wrong?" he asked carefully as he approached her.

Just as the first syllable left his lips her head whipped up and despite the darkness of the room her tearstricken face was in clear view to him. It tugged harshly at his heartstrings.

She put on a smile for him and wiped her eyes with her hands to rid herself from the tears.

"It's nothing, don't worry, Takeshi."

He frowned. If that were the case she wouldn't be here in the kitchen in the middle of the night crying to herself. So he told her exactly that.

"If that were the case you'd not be here crying but sleeping in the girls' room, Hine-san."

A small smile blossomed on her face at his insistence.

"Actually, I have my own room." she deflected weakly. Yet Takeshi couldn't let it go.

"And yet you are not there but here crying. What's wrong?" he asked taking the seat next to her at the table and looking at her expectantly.

She sighed deeply and remained silent. The teen however did not let this deter him and just remained next to her as she tried to dry her tears when new ones continued to fall. The silence reigned for several more minutes before she gave up and let the silent sobs rack her body. Unsure of what to do in such a situation, Takeshi slung his arm around her shoulder and gently squeezed her to his side in an awkward side-hug.

That however seemed to make her self discipline crumble completely as she turned to him and burried her face in his chest as she cried. Still feeling awkward but realising that was what the girl needed, Takeshi gently wrapped his arms around her and stroked her back to comfort her. It took a while but the action seemed to calm her down.

When her sobs had subsided to scattered sniffles she pulled away from him looking distinctly sheepish despite the tears on her face.

"Sorry about that." she mumbled rubbing at her teary eyes, "You don't even know me, but here I break down in your arms."

Takeshi hummed dismissively. She had obviously needed that. So as far as he was concerned it was ok. Better she let someone know about her feelings than bottling them up and covering it with a fake smile. That was just painful and he knew it.

"Will you tell me what's wrong now, Hine-san?" he asked gently.

She sighed.

"I guess I owe it to you, since I think I just ruined your shirt with my tears. You can call me Ayumi by the way. Without any honorifics. We dropped those pretty long ago. It's strange for me otherwise."

Takeshi just smiled at her.

"Don't worry about the shirt. But sharing the pain helps, Ayumi."

Ayumi nodded absentmindedly before once again sighing.

"I told you earlier I used to work for your father and was your home tutor?"

Takeshi nodded.

"Well, Tsuyoshi-san pretty much integrated me into your household. I lived with you guys throughout high school and Tsuyoshi-san became like a father to me. The three of us were really close." she admitted shyly.

Takeshi grinned brightly. He had always thought their home was too big for just him and his old man. He was looking forward to that changing.

"But that's great!"

Ayumi smiled sadly.

"Yes, it was... Now Tsuna and Gokudera know this but I know they won't tell you. They probably fear this information will hurt you too much. But I think you deserve the truth, Takeshi."

Sensing her somber mood Takeshi's grin disappeared and was replaced by grim concern. Ayumi took a moment to compose herself before she finally admitted, "Tsuyoshi-san... Your Dad... He was killed. By the same people who are targeting all of the people around Tsuna."

Frowning he cast his eyes down to the floor. That was a harsh blow. He couldn't imagine a time when his Dad would no longer be there, but apparently that was the case in this time.

"I understand...", he murmured solemnly.

Ayumi shook her head and cupped his face in her hands to make him look at her.

"No, you don't." she stated firmly, " _Your_ father is still alive, right?"

Unsure where she was going with this he nodded in answer to her questions.

"And you realise just how fragile a life is now. So you can protect your father and loved ones with all your might." she explained, "Takeshi, your future self, and I, we didn't pay enough attention. We thought he'd be safe enough because he wasn't close to Tsuna. So you kept away. We were wrong and subsequently we lost him. But you can learn from our mistakes. You can become stronger with our knowledge and surpass us."

Takeshi mulled over her words realising how true they rang. Raw determination blossomed in his heart igniting the calming warmth he now knew to associate with his rain flames.

Meeting his eyes, Ayumi smiled.

"Now you understand. So take the sword style your father passed on to you and make him proud."

* * *

 

"Where were you when Kyoko-chan disappeared?" Tsuna demanded in a clearly upset tone, "you weren't even in the base anymore!"

All had been alright just the night before when they went to bed dead tired after the eventful day. Even if they only had to open the box Lal Mirch had handed them during her training. The following morning everything had gone to hell in a handbasket when they had not only received an distress signal in form of Hibird but Haru also informed them of Kyoko's disappearance during the night.

Luckily Kurokawa had found Kyoko before the Millefiore could and Hibari had attacked Gamma before he could deal a finishing blow against Yamamoto and Gokudera. But still the two of them were in critical condition!

Tsuna couldn't help but feel like Hine's absence was at fault. Even if she seemed to be only an unlucky civilian involved in this stuff by being their friend and therefore knew nothing of the true dangers involved, she was older than the girls and knew way more about this time than their group from the past. And surely if she had been in the base she could and would have stopped Kyoko from leaving. Kyoko would have listened to the older teen. Then him and his Guardians wouldn't have had to split up resulting in his friends' injuries. They could have faced Gamma together until Hibari got there!

Ayumi didn't answer. Instead she averted her eyes guiltily.

"Leave her be." Lal Mirch butted in, just entering the hide-out holding the Storm and Rain Vongola-Rings wrapped with Mammon Chains, "Who did you think ensures there is sufficient supplies around? Sasagawa Kyoko has now been returned to the base. Furthermore there is one thing you must be aware of in this time period: there is a third party in our conflict with the Millefiore called flame zombies."

Tsuna blanched as Lal Mirch let him mull over the implications of the name by himself while she turned to Hine.

"Your alarm?"

The blond smiled weakly.

"Even if it's only connected to our infirmary here, it's a way of helping my most precious people. I'll be treating the injured then."

Lal Mirch dismissed her with a brief nod.

Hine hastened her pace to get to her destination while Lal Mirch turned back to Tsuna who in the meantime had gone into full mental breakdown.

"Hieeee?! Flame zombies?! Are you kidding me?!"

He got a slapped upside the head for that comment. Cradling the new bruise - that hurt! - he looked up to meet the unamused look the CEDEF agent sported. So it couldn't be a joke, which in itself terrified Tsuna even more.

"Why do these crazy things always have to happen to me?!"

She shot him a cold glare for those words, which stopped Tsuna's rant instantly.

"Yes, flame zombies. They are known to go after flame active individuals, who are mainly found in the mafia, as you are aware. There is one rule when it comes to flame zombies: do not let them get close. If they bite you you'll be very lucky if nothing happens." she instructed.

Tsuna nodded quickly, as not to inspire his trainer's wrath, but couldn't quite wrap his head around it if he was honest. The idea just seemed to foreign. But the look in the CEDEF operatives eyes l ft no doubt she was speaking the truth. Not the slightest.

"And if we're not lucky?" he enquired tentatively.

Lal Mirch laughed mirthlessly.

"It affects your flames. Your very core. Either you break instantly and become like them, or you'll start cracking until you break and become like them, which is way, way more painful."

He didn't speak for a moment.

"Okay, don't let them get close." he agreed, "But what does that have to do with Hine-san?"

"They seem to be exceptionally attracted to her."

"How does she deal with them?" he asked suddenly worried for the blonde and guilty for doubting her.

"I run," Hine herself answered, loud enough for them to hear it from where she stood in front of the infirmary door further down the hallway, sadness tinging her voice, "and never look back."

* * *

 

Tsuna noted with a certain amount of relief that Hine didn't show much of a reaction when Bianchi and Fuuta entered. She didn't seem particularly interested in their discussion either. She just checked the IVs connected to the two patients, pulled out several bottles of medication and measured it out carefully before administering it via the drip the two were on. It made Tsuna feel guilty for accusing her beforehand. After all she had rushed back once she found out something had happened and hadn't left the infirmary since.

Quite honestly Tsuna had no idea if she was connected to the mafia or civilian, even if he personally would peg her for civilian. Probably only connected to the mafia by proxy for her connection to their future selves like Haru and Kyoko were. She seemed to know about flames, to an extent at least, but with the way their enemies had been using them and by the tale of 'flame zombies' Lal Mirch had recently shared with him, Tsuna didn't think there was a way not to know about them. Frankly, Tsuna didn't want to ask Hine directly in case she didn't know about the mafia but also didn't know who to ask about it. So he'd just keep on observing for the moment.

He just watched with a morbid fascination as Bianchi finally stopped being so loud about her affection for Reborn and Hine just turned to the older woman with an innocent smile.

"Bianchi, I know you've only just returned, but you're still banned from the kitchen. Two in the infirmary is bad enough as it is."

Bianchi had probably not even heard her, she was so immersed in blissfully hugging the living daylights out of Reborn, yet the blond seemed to be content with the lack of objection. Also she seemed to be the only one not affected by (oblivious of?) Hibari's bloodlust, as he threatened everyone for crowding in the infirmary while she hauled Gokudera back onto the bed, after Bianchi's appearance made him pass out.

Tsuna truly didn't know if he should admire her or be afraid for her, because her apparent lack of self-preservation.

Pulling the covers back over Gokudera she clicked her tongue, "look what you've done. You'd think someone with your IQ'd know better than to rip out an IV like that..."

Of course Gokudera was not coherent enough to hear the slight much less to formulate an retort. Tsuna did wonder though if she didn't see that he had not exactly done it on purpose but rather passed out because that was his natural reac tion to Bianchi's presence. Her nonchalance was rather startling either way.

Then she turned to Hibari with a calm smile.

"Thank you for enforcing the infirmary rules, Hibari-kun. But from a medical point of view I'd ask you not to actually bite anyone, because the human mouth has an enormous amount of bacteria which are a pain when the wound becomes infected."

Hibari didn't answer her, but left the infirmary wordlessly.

Really, Tsuna didn't know what to make of the blond teen their future selves called their friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is the end of the first chapter. I'll be quite hinest with you: this fiction is very drabble-y and that makes is hard to predict how long the chapters will be. However I hate short chapters, so I will not post short chapters. However I do post the snippets on my tumblr (under the same name). Feel free to read there, if you think the updates here are too slow.
> 
> Do leave comments or reviews though. I'd appreciate it immensely. Since I can't get any better if I don't get my mistakes pointed out to me.


	2. Ten Years Later: Potential

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsuna needs to take a time-out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is only very short, because the next snippet doesn't really go with this part well.  
> Basically, yeah, the next chapter will be longer.

"Hm, you've healed up nicely boys." the blond woman told her two charges as she fixed the last bandage on Gokudera's arm. An obvious improvement from the mummy look he'd been sporting only few days earlier. Days they'd been confined to this very infirmary and subjected to her scrutiny. Takeshi scratched at the adhessive bandage on his cheek awkwardly smiling before Ayumi swatted his hand away from the bandage.

"No scratching, because if that wound gets infected during your games I'm tying you to your infirmary bed."

Takeshi smiled brightly.

"Ok. And thanks for looking after us these past two weeks, Ayumi!"

Ayumi returned his smile with a very soft and fragile smile of her own.

"That's alright. I'm oath bound to do so anyway. I'm a doctor. But do remember to thank the girls for doing most of the cooking." she replied softly, "Now try not to get back in my care any time soon."

The two teens seemed surprised at her admission but Ayumi didn't let them think on it too long.

"Come on, I'll take you to the training rooms. Can't have you getting lost, can I?"

 

* * *

The blond teen watched from the background while Gokudera, Yamamoto and Tsuna were told that they'd be working with their own tutor each. She had been fast to move out of the way after Tsuna lit his flames and tried evading Hibari's attacks.

She sighed fondly.

"Hibari-kun's playing games again, isn't he?" she muttered mostly to herself however loud enough to be heard by Fuuta who she was standing next to, "Honestly, they're such pyromaniacs the whole lot of them."

Fuuta chuckled as he made his way to stand next to her outside of the danger zone and looked at the young woman as he did so.

It was thanks to her quick thinking that Fuuta didn't miss the opportunity to watch this training session. Or even worse, walked straight into an ongoing fight when he entered. Instead Ayumi-nee had pulled him along when he was bringing Lambo to the girls so he could enter his information into the general Vongola network. Well he could still do so later...

However her pulling him along while en route meant Lambo was still with him. And naturally upon spotting her the five-year old had held his arms out to her in silent demand.

Fuuta glanced at her apologetically once again, but she just shrugged as she held the five-year-old, who was completely content to simply be hugged close.

"They always did like you better, Ayumi-nee.", he commented idly as they watched Hibari-san attack the ten years younger version of Tsuna-nii.

Ayumi-nee hummed absently.

"That's why it was easy for me to take over looking after them three years ago, so you could for once act upon your wishes and not your sense of responsibility." she replied with an easy smile. Then presumably upon remembering how long it had been since they last talked properly she added: "It's been a while, hasn't it, Fuuta-kun."

She looked back at the past-Tsuna-nii fighting their time's Hibari. Or at least trying to fight Hibari as Hibari had just landed a rather nasty hit on Tsuna-nii's face with one of his tonfa. Ayumi-nee frowned in annoyance. Must be her inner medic acting up at the sight of a potentially nasty wound, he figured.

"Huh, perhaps I have to amend that Tsuna-kun is both a pyro- and cryomaniac." she mused out aloud as Tsuna-nii used the Zero Point Break Through, "though I never saw our Tsuna-kun use ice as much as his past self."

Fuuta chuckled, since he knew very well how much she liked to call them pyromaniacs for using flames, but kept his eyes trained on the two fighters avidly following the exchange of blows.

"Being more agile Tsuna-nii doesn't have to block that many attacks anymore.", he added absently analysing the younger boss' moves. Perhaps he should rank him again?

Looking down at the boy in her arms who was fascinated by the display he thought were fireworks Ayumi-nee smiled sadly.

"I just wished the children weren't involved with this mess."

Fuuta nodded in silent agreement. Nothing more needed to be said on that behalf. After all most of their group shared this sentiment with their boss, who had strictly kept the younger members of their group away from the more unsavoury side of their life.

The silence was only interrupted by the sounds of the two opponents clashing for the next few seconds before there was an unexpected twist.

"Ah, the appearance of Hibar-kuni's ultimate time-out sphere!", Ayumi-nee commented just as the spiky purple sphere of cloud flame enclosed Tsuna-nii. Fuuta just shook his head at the girl. She didn't exactly have the most apt naming sense.

Past-Tsuna-nii's Guardians were now kicking up a fuss because of it when they were told to attend their own training sessions, but they were quickly interrupted by Ayumi-nee as she stepped in front of them calmly smiling.

"Don't worry, Hibari-kun is just making him take a time-out. He'll be out of there in no time. I'll make sure they play nicely."

The boys didn't look convinced at all until Reborn explained the reason to them. And even then they only left reluctantly.

Fuuta saw Ayumi-nee looking at the watch on her mobile phone impatiently.

She was carefully monitoring the time and he knew Hibari was too. No matter what he said, there was no way they could afford to kill the Decimo at this point in time. (Not to mention the paradox it would create.) And neither could they afford the Decimo having permanent brain damage.

No matter how incomprehensible Hibari's behaviour might be sometimes, their Tsuna-nii had assured Fuuta Hibari knew what he was doing to train his past self. (No matter how much Fuuta was sure to have heard a muttered 'maybe' after that statement and despite Hibari for some reason being in the top three people most likely to create a time paradox.)

But safe was better than sorry: so Ayumi-nee, as the one in charge of the base's infirmary, was present to determine the point where Tsuna-nii would inevitably fall unconscious from lack of oxygen and then from then on how long they could leave him in Hibari's so-called time-out sphere before anything happened.

After all the past Guardians could only change the future as long as they remained alive.

He noticed she held Lambo's ears closed, just a second before Tsuna-nii started crying out. Quite frankly he agreed, the boy didn't need to hear the desolation in their brother figure's voice. He would be fine to remain oblivious a little bit longer.

Even Lal was getting antsy and starting to protest.

Lambo looked at Ayumi-nee in question but she just smiled at him and started mouthing words at him to give him the impression they were playing a new game. Lambo happily joined in, trying to guess what she was saying. They continued to do so until a glance at her watch revealed to Ayumi-nee that Tsuna-nii's time was almost up. Notably the screams of desolation had quieted. She handed Lambo back to Fuuta and got up from her spot on the floor next to the wall to walk over to the spiky sphere ready to tell Hibari to break it off. It was however unnecessary as just as she was halfway across the room the sphere burst into brilliant orange flames completely obliterating the purple flames. Fuuta would even say his flames were burning more brightly than ever when Tsuna-nii finally burst from the sphere.

Ayumi-nee smiled gently at the boy as she met his eyes standing in front of him calmly.

"Yes, yes, you're all pyromaniacs. Now let me check you over for brain damage."

She got to work quickly, lifting each eyelid looking for ruptured blood vessels while shining a pen light at them, had him move his arms in an intricate movement and checking his attention span by telling him to follow her finger with his eyes before she was interrupted by Hibari addressing Tsuna-nii.

Ayumi-nee huffed, but deemed it safe to let the train, as Tsuna-nii didn't seem to suffer from Hypoxia, nor did he seem to have burst a blood vessel in his brain. Well, as safe as training with Hibari could ever be. Which on second thought wasn't safe at all proven by Hibari sending Tsuna-nii crashing into the wall and doing substantial damage to said wall several times over just a moment later.

Ayumi-nee sighed and turned to Fuuta who was still watching the fight.

"I'll be out getting some medical supplies."

The young adult nodded absentmindedly as he held Lambo securely in his arms and continued to watch the fight now with slight trepidation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's only half the length of the last chapter, I'm sorry about that, but honestly, why does KHR have to be do drabble-y?  
> I'll give you more to look forward to in the next chapter.


	3. Ten Years Later: Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Big Brother Sasagawa arrives at the base with Chrome and the decision about the invasion of the Melone base is made. Oh, and Haru and Kyoko actually know more than you think, Tsuna.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, I did take me longer than I expected to post this... simply because of the length of this chapter. (If you want faster but shorter updates, see my tumblr.)  
> I tried to include a lot of the typical fluff that defines KHR and contrasts the heavier aspects of the storyline.  
> And just so you know, I've read so many Tsuna or Giotto cake-addiction fictions that it has become cemented in my headcannon.

She just entered the kitchen to her the tail end of Lambo exclaiming to have seen "a boobie-load of boobies". She chuckled when the boys spluttered. Instantly the boys attention switched from the mental image they had conjured when the boy uttered this to the blond.

"Hine-san! You've returned! You were gone for three days! Are you alright?!" Tsuna asked in worry. So what if he still felt guilty for blaming her last time?

Yamamoto chuckled at the his friend's exclamation.

"Maa, maa, Tsuna, she probably just lost track of time." he tried to assure him.

"But- the flame zombies!" Tsuna objected frantically to which Takeshi laughed even more.

"Did you watch too many horror movies again?"

Hine smiled softly as she crossed over the room, setting down the plastic bag she had been carrying and placing her hand on the brunette's hair to give it a small tousle.

"Don't worry, Tsuna-kun. I know when to run and can do so when I have to."

Then she turned to Yamamoto with uncharacteristic seriousness.

"Takeshi, over the last years something we call 'flame zombies' has emerged. You'll recognise them for what they are when you come across them. They are dangerous, so you must never let them come close to you, ok?"

Yamamoto nodded uncertainly, probably mulling over the admittedly rather ridiculous idea.

Whenever Tsuna tried to come up with what they might look like, he ends up with a generic walking grey rotting corpse on fire. He was however also certain that was not what they would look like. That would be seriously ridiculous.

Furrowing his brow at Hine's answer because it was anything but convincing Tsuna was about to say something but he was quickly distracted by her next sentence.

Tapping a finger to her chin with a wide grin on her lips she asked: "Ne, ne, a question: didn't you guys circulate adult magazines in your clubs and classes in middle and high school? The schools I attended did, you know. Well the boys did. I've always wondered if they did in yours as well, because you seemed way too innocent in high school. Even now your future self still does, Tsuna-kun. And both of your reactions to Lambo's statement was rather cute too.", she pointed out curiously.

The boys both spluttered blushing even more madly. Hine smiled without a care in the world.

Somehow Tsuna could now believe she had lived with the Yamamotos'. Only someone affiliated with the Yamamoto household could bluntly ask such a question without regard for social decorum.

Both Tsuna and Yamamoto spluttered trying to evade the question until Hine seemed to give up on it.

"Well, if you don't want to answer, that's alright too. I think I'll be joining the girls in the bath as soon as I put away this stuff." she announced as she left the kitchen not seeming to realise what kind of mental image she evoked with this statement after what Lambo had said beforehand.

Needless to say the boys were red as tomatoes for quite a while that evening.

* * *

 Fuelled by their worry for Gokudera, Takeshi and Tsuna rounded up all of the current inhabitants of the hideout for their planned bonding activity.

Lal Mirch had declined, as had the funny little man Giannini. Hibari was nowhere to be found and his second in command from the disciplinary committee, Kusakabe, wasn't to be found either.

In fact only their group from the past and Fuuta had agreed to join in the actual making of the sushi. The little guy had agreed to watch them as they did it and Tsuna had for some reason gone an interesting shade of green when Takeshi suggested to ask Gokudera's sister for help. The only person left to ask was Ayumi whom they found checking the supplies in the infirmary again.

Surprise showed on Ayumi's face as they brought their idea to her. Then a smile broke through and she openly laughed.

"I guess I'll help you. Since Takeshi is actually hopeless with food."

Takeshi blushed. While it was true that he couldn't cook, his father still owned the best sushi shop in all of Namimori. And he had taught him how to wield his sword style. He was bound to have at least picked some of his sushi skills up, right?

As if reading his thoughts Ayumi smirked at him.

"I told you didn't I? Tsuyoshi-san hired me to help out in the shop. Why would he do this if you could help?"

Takeshi groaned but left it at that while Tsuna looked back and forth between him and Ayumi in confusion. Meanwhile Ayumi was listing things they'd have to consider.

"...Also we can't make the sushi with fresh fish, because the merchant who usually delivered the fish has closed shop. And we'll have to be careful with Lal's portion, because she's picky with her food."

"Eh." Tsuna spoke up in surprise, "She is?"

Ayumi nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes, there's a couple of foods she will not touch and even only seeing them will put her in a bad mood. One of them is octopus. Or anything with tentacles really. Another is any type of bird you still recognise as bird upon serving. There are a couple more I know of."

Takeshi hummed.

"That's surprisingly childish." He remarked, "but luckily neither are needed for sushi."

Ayumi smiled wrily.

"Yes, we're lucky in this case. Especially Tsuna-kun. She gets very creative in her training methods when she's in a bad mood." Then she sighed, "I think I might have spoiled her too much..."

The two boys just looked at each other and decided not to react to the last statement. It was probably better for their sanity anyway.

* * *

 "Thank you for helping out with the chores, Hine-san." Haru enthusiastically thanked the older girl as they were doing the washing, "you must be really busy with the boys always getting hurt during training, yet you're going out of your way to help us!"

The girl in question however just waved it off.

"No need to thank me, Haru-chan. Our Tsuna-kun asked me to look after you as long as you're here, so I'm just doing as I promised him. And call me Ayumi, as I told you already I'm good friends with your future-selves."

The girls looked at her uncomfortably. They didn't mind calling the older girl by her given name, but they could tell the girl was forcing herself to be comfortable around them. And they didn't want her to feel like that. They wanted her to open up to them for their own merits not for the friendships or the promised she made with their future selves.

The only ones she seemed to be remotely comfortable around were Yamamoto, Gokudera and unsurprisingly Lambo but the little boy was just too adorable. With Gokudera however it seemed to simply lie in their lack of interaction. She rarely addressed him and he ignored her except for the occasional undignified outburst whenever he felt Tsuna's integrity was threatened. The girls figured she was probably not too terribly close to this time's Gokudera either, so she had an easier time interacting with his past self because she didn't expect very much.

Kyoko looked like she was about to say something to address the issue but was ultimately stopped when suddenly a very loud shout of "VOOOOOOOOOIIIIII!!!!!" sounded all the way to the washing room they were in.

Rubbing her ringing ears Hine grumbled a little under her breath before announcing, "I'll go check what that was supposed to be about. Do you want to come with me?"

The two girls nodded in agreement and followed a short distance after her towards the computer room they knew the boys would be in. To their surprise they found Kyoko's older brother there.

Hine, seeing the unconscious girl in his arms, instantly walked right over to him.

* * *

 "I'll take care of her." Hine told future Ryohei as she took the girl from his arms.

"Ah, please, extremely do."

Tsuna knew Hine had treated Gokudera's and Yamamoto's injuries after they had been defeated by Gamma and treated all of their training injuries but Onii-san’s level of trust in her was still astounding. Moreover Chrome's case was definitely more complicated than a couple of scrapes.

Worried Tsuna stopped the girl as she was about to leave the briefing room.

"Hi- Hine-san...we- well Chrome Dokuro is..."

Tsuna thought he could see an expression of hurt flittering across her face, but it was gone too fast for him to be sure. He floundered to find the correct words, but couldn't seem to find a way not too reveal too much if she didn't already know.

Hine interrupted him but not unkindly. Instead she smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry, Tsuna-kun, I am very well aware of Chrome-chan's condition. After all I'm friends with this time's Chrome-chan. After I finished my studies she entrusted me with her secret. Therefore she'll be perfectly fine with me looking after her."

Then she turned towards the two girls who had come into the room with her.

"Could you please ask Bianchi to help me in the infirmary when you've caught up with your brother, Kyoko-chan?"

Both Kyoko and Haru nodded quickly upon which Hine left with her new charge while future-Ryohei entertained his sister and her friend.

* * *

 "I brought the cake!" Hine announced as she entered the underground training room with a delicate looking ornate silver tea tray stacked with cake slices, colourful cupcakes and cookies.

Tsuna didn't quite know what to make of that, as he was in the middle of training with Lal Mirch and was supposed to decide if they were to launch the attack on the Millefiore in five days time. Even if she wasn't aware of the mafia, with Chrome in the infirmary how could she even think of cake?!

Though that cake did seem very enticing...

"How's the girl doing?" Lal Mirch asked turning to Hine and taking in the tray laden with goods.

The blond frowned before putting on a seemingly carefree smile again.

"She's stable. Her injuries weren't too bad. Mostly scrapes. All she needs is a good rest and she'll be fine..." Hine replied, "well as fine as she can be while still missing her intestinal organs."

While still rather apprehensive, even after hearing the blond was a certified physician (look at that pervert Shamal, he’s supposedly one of the best...),Tsuna felt relieved at that information. Which was obviously what his trainer had been aiming for as she turned back to him with what Tsuna swore was an bloodthirsty smirk.

Without looking towards Hine any longer the CEDEF operative motioned her towards the back of the training room.

"You know where you can set it up."

Hine smiled.

"Of course."

Rather dumbfounded Tsuna watched the blond walk to where Lal Mirch had indicated and pushing a single button hidden behind a small panel invisible against the rest of the monochrome wall while balancing the tea tray in one hand easily. Then unfortunately he found himself object of his trainer's wrath for not paying attention to her.

When he finally braved another look to where the blond stood, his eyes bulged as he saw the new addition of a round tea table on spindly legs and two comfortably looking armchairs in that particular corner of the training room. However he paid dearly for that moment of inattentiveness.

"You're to decrease your time doing the slalom by a third." Lal Mirch announced mercilessly.

"Hieeeeee!"

Tsuna's eyes instantly whipped back to his current trainer.

"But that's impossible!" He whined. He had been doing various obstacle courses during his training with the CEDEF operative while Yamamoto and Gokudera had yet to be cleared to leave the med bay again. Unfortunately that meant she knew his times using his old gloves. Little to say, she didn't take well to the fact that Tsuna couldn't control his new gloves' flame output as well as the old ones'. She seemed to take it as a personal slight and put him through more training because of it. With the additional spars with future Hibari though, the training had become a lot more straining. He had to constantly push his limits when sparring the adult skylark. Tsuna had thought their Hibari was scary, but future-Hibari was the incarnation of hell. Back to his problem however, there also seemed to be a silent competition between Reborn and Lal Mirch to see which one of the two could prepare their student for the upcoming battles better. And the CEDEF operative was a very harsh task master.

Tsuna shut his whining instantly when he saw the menacing aura around his trainer daring him to defy her again. He knew from experience that she'd make him regret it if he did defy her again, so he wisely swallowed his protest and got started on the slalom course again.

Completely out of breath he looked up to hear his time after completing the course as fast as he could, only to find his trainer wasn't where he had left her.

Instead she was sat on one of the armchairs across a smiling Hine and frowning into a cup of dark liquid that could be either tea or coffee. Judging from the colour of the milk-diluted version of the drink Hine held, he would guess coffee though.

How was that even fair?

"Too slow. You barely managed to get the same time as last time. And you're nowhere close to the time you had with your old gloves."

Tsuna heaved a sigh. He just knew this was going to be really hard.

A light chuckle drew his attention back to the blond sitting across from his trainer. In her hand she held a small plate with a heavenly looking piece of rich chocolate cake.

Ayumi followed his glance and smiled a saccharine smile.

"Isn't this the reception level course?" She asked the young woman in front of her, "are you going soft, Lal-chan? You haven't even started him on the boss course yet. Don't you think having him practice on the more difficult course would help him with his time on this one?"

Hearing this Tsuna groaned. There was an even more difficult course? How was he ever even going to survive training?! And why was she edging his trainer on even more? Lal Mirch was plenty bad on her own!

Hine tutted gently placing the plate back on the table. And gave him a reassuring smile.

"Now, now, Tsuna-kun, it wouldn't be bribery if you didn't do anything for it, now would it."

That instantly made the fourteen-year-old look at the slightly older teen hopefully. She knew his fatal weakness: cake.

Again she chuckled.

"Yes, I made enough cake for all of you to have some too. But only after your individual trainers deem you finished for the day. After all you need something to look forward to. Something to lift your spirits. So give it your all, Tsuna-kun. You have to win your fight, don't you? "

All of a sudden Tsuna found himself more motivated to complete the obstacle course.

Forgotten were all thoughts of how cruel the blond was to entice his trainer to up his training even more. She was obviously an angel sent from heaven.

If he got some of that cake, deciding if they would join the Vongola’s counterstrike against the Millefiore in 5 days didn’t seem quite as daunting anymore.

* * *

Hine had gathered the girls in the kitchen to lighten their spirits a bit and they were now watching attentively as she brought a large chocolate cake out of the fridge.

With a large smile she placed it on the table in front of them and passed out pieces to each of them. In the meantime Kyoko passed out cups of black tea and Haru placed a small jug of milk and a pot of sugar on the table. With the exception of Hine all of them had a large piece of cake in front of them.

Of course this didn't go unnoticed by Kyoko.

"Hine-san, you didn't take any cake, even though you went to all these lengths to make it. You know you should indulge in cake every now and then. Even Haru and I do so every month. Dieting all the time is bad!"

Hine chuckled lightly behind one hand.

"Don't worry, Haru-chan, I'm not on a diet. And I do actually regularly participate in self-appreciation day with your future-selves. But I already had quite a few treats with Lal-chan earlier."

"Hahi!" Haru exclaimed, "with the bitter, pretty lady? With the cool gorilla shoulder accessory?"

Ayumi smiled softly.

"Yes, it's become a bit of a habit of ours to catch up with coffee and cake. And this cake is a bit too rich to have another piece of it."

The girls nodded uncertainly.

Hine chuckled lightly.

"Try some and you'll know what I mean."

That was all the encouragement they needed to start their pieces of cake. Their eyes lit up when they tasted the rich, velvety chocolate flavour.

"Hahi, this cake is really good." Haru complimented the older girl.

Ayumi smiled bashfully into her cup of tea.

A couple of seconds silence reigned as they savoured their first bite before the conversation started up again.

"Onii-chan said he was at a sumo tournament." Kyoko remarked uncomfortably.

"But the boys said something about 'Varia'." Haru supplied just as unhappily.

"And Hana-chan said he told her he was out of the country for work and visited a place with a queer man. There's no sumo outside of Japan." Kyoko followed up on their discussion.

In sync the two looked at the older girl for confirmation.

Hine hummed noncommittally.

"I feel like they're trying to keep secrets from us." Haru added unhappily.

The blond sighed and set down her teacup. Her face was blank as if she was far away in her mind.

"You know, there's always a reason when someone has a secret." she said in a melancholic tone, "it might be, because they're embarrassed by a particularly bad test score or because they don't want to admit to making a mistake. Sometimes however, they keep a secret for someone else. They keep the secret because they were asked to do so or because they know that the knowledge they are keeping a secret might hurt someone. So if you want to find out somebody's secret you always have to think about whose secret it is and why they might be keeping it, Haru-chan, Kyoko-chan."

Both Haru and Kyoko looked at Hine in surprise. Before it morphed into guilt.

"I didn't even think of that." Kyoko admitted remorsefully squeezing her eyes closed and berating herself for her thoughtlessness.

She opened them again when all of a sudden she felt a warm hand gently tousling her hair.

"Things like these are often forgotten especially when one is young. It's part of growing up to be reminded of them every now and then." Hine said smiling gently.

"Hahi! We'll think of that before we try to find out more!" Haru promised which earned her a proud nod from the older girl.

Fortunately their somber mood didn't last any longer, because just then Fuuta entered the kitchen carrying both I-Pin and Lambo in his arms as if they were each a sack of flour and with black marker doodles all over the young man's and I-Pin's faces.

Instantly the girls broke out in giggles.

"What happened, Fuuta-kun?" Hine asked with mirth dancing in her eyes. The girls figured she could probably tell by the looks of things but wanted to hear it from the older teen.

Fuuta threw her a small glare as he huffed indignantly.

"I fell asleep while I was watching over their nap time and Lambo woke up first." He admitted slightly disgruntled.

Still giggling at his misfortune Hine got up from her chair and indicated the older teen to take her seat. Then she rummaged in one of the storage cupboards before handing him a bar of soap and a wash cloth. She grabbed another set and a small basin to fill with water and returned with her set of items.

"You should know better than to let your guard down around Lambo. Our Lambo would still do that to you if you gave him the chance." She told him, "go wash up. I'll look after the kids."

Sighing deeply Fuuta did as he was told and walked over to the door. When he was almost out of the kitchen he turned around and said, "but save me a piece of the chocolate truffle cake!"

Hine just chuckled as she pulled out two cupcakes with colourful buttercream topping and placed them on a small plate each. Setting the plates in front of the children who had been surprisingly quiet and obedient since they entered the kitchen.

"Thank you, Ayumi-nee-chan!" Lambo exclaimed happily before folding his hands to say, "Ittadakimasu!"

I-Pin did the same in Chinese before both of them gladly dug in.

Stunned Haru and Kyoko watched the small children and then looked over to Hine who was now gently removing the permanent marker doodles off I-Pin's face with the face cloth and soap.

"You're really good with children, Hine-san." Haru remarked in surprise, "I don't think even Nana-san can make them behave as well as this."

The blonde froze for a moment before she smiled a slightly strained smile.

"I had younger siblings" She admitted, "there's a couple of tricks."

Kyoko frowned. That was past tense.

"Had? What happened, if I may ask."

Sadness tinged the already strained smile as Hine continued cleaning the doodles off I-Pin's face while she was munching on the bright red icing of her cupcake.

"They... I lost them."

The switch in that sentence had been obvious enough for the girls to realise that ‘lost’ was most likely a euphemism for death because the older teen couldn't bear to speak out their true fate aloud. Imagining her big brother dying Kyoko looked at the older teen with shock and pity and Haru just looked at the girl in pure shock.

Seeing the younger girls' expressions she hurried to show them a happier smile and added: "But that was a long time ago. It's okay now."

Instantly the girls from the past frowned.

"You shouldn't lie, Hine-san." Haru said seriously.

"If you're not okay, it's alright to show it. You don't have to act as if everything is alright if it's not." Kyoko added.

Hine sighed and dropped the smile exhaustedly.

With a wane and forlorn expression she looked at the two. They could see the insecurity shining in her eyes clearly.

"It's just hard to deal with without a mask, you know?"

Slowly she got up and placed her cup in the sink.

"I'll excuse myself. I think I need some time alone."

* * *

 The next time Haru saw Hine was when she stormed into the infirmary accompanied by a loud high pitched beeping. Which stopped once she entered the infirmary. Gone was the insecurity from when she had left them in the kitchen, replaced by a worried frown.

They were all high strung, Tsuna more than the others, because he had even snapped at Lambo and Haru! But then Reborn-kun had brought him the news that somebody they had called Chrome’s condition had worsened and they rushed over to the infirmary. To Haru’s horror it turned out to be the girl Kyoko’s brother had brought to the base lying there on the bed in the centre of the room and coughing blood.

"What happened?!" Hine asked Bianchi who was standing next to the girl's bed clearly worried.

"She's losing her internal organs!" Bianchi replied frantically.

Haru watched in horror from outside the door where Tsuna and the others couldn't see her. Hearing those words though she turned away. She didn't dare look any longer. She didn't want to see anyone dying. Why did her organs fail? Surely this Chrome wasn’t any older than them! She couldn't die yet!

Tsuna was holding Chrome's hand, so much Haru could make out from the sounds inside, before she ran off with Lambo in her arms. Away from the commotion and the scary idea of someone dying.

* * *

 Tsuna looked at his female mist guardian in frantic worry. How could they help her?!

Hine was flitting around the room frantically checking different medical equipment and looking more and more stressed with every passing second that Chrome continued coughing up blood.

She was currently looking through several vials of liquids trying to find the one she was searching for when Hibari entered the room and lifted Chrome from the table.

"If you die, we'll all be in trouble." He stated calmly, while Kusakabe came over to Tsuna asking him to leave the infirmary.

All Tsuna noticed before he left was Hine handling a syringe filled with a transparent blue liquid and injecting it into Chrome's arm.

About an hour later they were all waiting in the briefing room. Tsuna had been herded there by Bianchi after the woman had been kicked out of the infirmary as well and had gone to inform the rest of the Guardians as well as Lal Mirch, Fuuta and Giannini. They were now all rather anxiously waiting for news on the only girl in their group of Guardians.

Only then Future-Ryohei joined them with Kusakabe.

Instantly Tsuna looked to Hibari's second-in-command for an update on Chrome's condition.

"Chrome Dokuro is out of immediate danger for now. Kyo-san and Hine-san have managed to stabilise her." he told them.

Relief coursed through all three of them and Tsuna exclaimed, "really? That's wonderful!!"

Reborn however had to question it.

"What did they do to pull her through that condition?"

"The Vongola ring," Kusakabe explained to the infantile tutor, "Hibari made her draw upon her own flames to create illusory organs for herself."

Surprised the Guardians and Boss from the past looked at the Foundation's second-in-command.

"Is such a thing even possible?" Gokudera voiced the same thought Tsuna had had.

Kusakabe frowned.

"At her current strength the illusion is incomplete so she is barely hanging on with Hine-san treating her with medication to keep her body from repulsing the illusory organs."

Tsuna gulped. Their friend was still on death's door.

This however placed them in a difficult situation with the planned attack on the Millefiore base in 5 days time. With Mukuro's condition largely unknown that took Chrome out of the equation.

"Don't worry. I will stand in for Chrome." Lal Mirch stated firmly.

Surprisingly it was Reborn who spoke against her participation.

"You've been exposed to too much of the Anti-Tre-Ni-Sette-Radiation. Your Body is breaking down."

The bluenette was just about to retort angrily, when a calm voice was heard from the door.

"You know they're right, Lal-chan."

Instantly all eyes were on the door where the resident blonde teen was standing.

"Hine-san!" Tsuna voiced his surprise as had long since become his habit.

Hine smiled wanly at him before turning her attention to her friend.

"You know your body is at it's limit. You are not taking part in anything."

Anger flushed Lal Mirch's face.

"Then give me some medication to fix it!"

Hine shook her head slowly.

"What you want is not something to fix it, since you know such a chemical compound does not exist. You want something to treat the symptoms so you can wreck your body even further. You have to stop exposing your body to the radiation!"

That broke all self restraint Lal Mirch might have still had.

"But the ones emitting the Anti-Tre-Ni-Sette-Radiation are the Millefiore!"

Hine took a step back unhappily watching as Lal Mirch pleaded her case to the others seated at the table with her. Tsuna could clearly see how to her everything that happened was the Millefiore's fault. The Radiation and also the people dear to her that the radiation killed. She kept on blaming them, although the others tried to reason that there was no proof for these accusations, until she collapsed.

Not even a moment later Hine was crouched next to her making her drink a light golden liquid of which the bluenette coughed out half of. Yet despite the condition of her own health she argued she was fine and they should carry out the attack.

Tsuna watched with mixed feelings as Hine tried arguing with Lal Mirch but eventually had to leave the room to get her more medication when her friend started to cough again.

Finally he gritted his teeth and came to a conclusion.

"No, let's do it."

* * *

 Most likely attracted by the noise created by the large explosion Gokudera's training had caused Hine came to the scene already equipped with a humongous first-aid case.

"Is everyone alright?!" she asked in obvious concern. Then she laid eyes on Gokudera and clicked her tongue admonishingly.

"Gokudera-kun, didn't I tell the two of you to try not to get into my care again too soon? Do I seriously have to tie you to one of the infirmary beds?"

Was Tsuna seeing things or did Gokudera look to the side and grumble like a little child just then? The look disappeared just a moment later though when Hine started bandaging the silver haired bomber and teasing him relentlessly that he didn't raise his cat properly.

"You know, I think I could find you a spray bottle to spray the little thing every time it does something it's not supposed to." She chattered on to a more and more irritated Gokudera while Yamamoto was sitting next to Hine laughingly agreeing to her ideas. Which in turn had Gokudera bristling and spitting insults at Yamamoto. However Hine didn't seem to like that. Her relatively harmless teasing stopped abruptly.

"Would you stop moving around while I disinfect the wounds?" Hine interrupted Gokudera eerily calmly, "Or I might change my mind about not giving you the rabies shot. After all I haven't seen the little one for quite a while he might have picked up something."

Of course, that shut the bomber up rather efficiently. Even if it was rather macabre to threaten someone with a rabies shot.

Once the scratches and bites were sufficiently treated, (they only needed to be disinfected anyway as they were superficial at best), they relocated to the kitchen, to let Giannini deal with the wall of the reference room Gokudera's explosion had broken. (It needn't be said that the small rotund mecha-artist had been so very close to a heart attack when he saw the wall. Or rather the lack of it.)

And while Gokudera didn't seem to get along with _his_ box weapon at all, Hine was able to pick up and carry the cat to the kitchen without any problems whatsoever. In fact it even purred and rubbed against her!

Funnily enough when Hine saw this, she threw Gokudera a superior smirk. It was gone after a fraction of a second, but it had been there nonetheless. And Gokudera had seen it too, since he was now silently fuming. Was there some kind of rivalry between future-Gokudera and Hine? Or did he offend her somehow? Their Gokudera and Hine hadn't interacted too much yet, so was it something future-Gokudera did? Hine didn't seem to be the childish type to hold a grudge against someone who didn't even do anything yet though. In fact she didn't seem much like a 17-year-old at all. She seemed way more mature than that. More mature than the future versions of his Guardians he met.

Tsuna was interrupted out of his thoughts just then as future-Ryouhei ran into the room announcing, "We need to discuss the next... Uh, sumo wrestling tournament!! Come to the briefing room!"

* * *

 Kyoko frowned in confusion.

"Sumo wrestling again?" She asked just as the boys filed out of the kitchen and left them behind once again. A crack was heard when the last one out closed the door after them.

Moments after they had left Hine walked over to Haru and gently pulled her hands open.

"You shouldn't hurt yourself." She chided gently as she pulled the glass shards from her palm and disposed of them in the rubbish bin. The glass she had just been gripping moments before now no more than glass shards. Then she pulled the obviously upset girl back to the table and sat her down so she could take a look at the injured hand.

"There’s a person in the infirmary who was close to dying and they still want to participate in a Sumo tournament!" Haru cried incredulously.

Hine paused in her practiced motions as she looked at the up to meet the girl's eyes with a calmness that seemed to rile up Haru even more.

"Have you thought about my words from before? About the reason behind a secret? Since that is obviously what this is. A cover story for a secret.”

Instantly Haru closed her mouth and looked down in shame.

Several moments there was a tense silence in the air while Hine treated Haru's hand and gently applied a salve and wrapped bandages around it.

It was Kyoko who finally broke the silence.

"I have," she said solemnly, "they obviously want to protect us from something."

Hine looked up and met Kyoko's eyes with a certain pride in her gaze. So Kyoko continued.

"I talked to Bianchi-san, because there were blanks in my memory."

Another look of hurt flashed across Hine's face for a moment. Kyoko felt bad for this, but she resolved, she couldn't do anything about it anymore. She could however try to keep it from happening again. She could give an effort to get to know the older teen so she didn't feel so left behind anymore.

"But now I remember. Back when we first got to the future. Tsuna protected me from this scary man. So I want to believe they are keeping secrets from us to protect us!"

Suddenly Haru looked up again to meet Kyoko's eyes.

"Hahi! You're right. Tsuna-san wouldn't be keeping secrets from us if not to protect us!"

Hine smiled at the two of them gently.

"That’s what I think too." She said as she wrapped her arms around them and pulled both of them into a hug, "and because you figured it out, I will tell you something: the fighting part of the sumo competition, as well as the opponent part is true. But it won't be easy for them and there will be no rules protecting them. However these fights they are getting into, it's to bring all of you back to the past. And they didn't tell you so you don't have to worry.”

Hen she smirked mischievously, “they are underestimating us though: we know they'll manage just fine because we believe in them, don't we?"

The two girls who had been surprised to finally get some information after having been in the dark since their arrival in the future looked at Hine with surprise written all over their faces. Then they smiled and agreed, "you're right, Ayumi-san."

* * *

 The sliding door opened silently as Takeshi was immersed in what was shown on the small screen of the laptop. He didn't notice someone entered until he felt a weight on his shoulder and looked up in surprise.

"Ayumi?" Takeshi asked wondering why she was here.

From where she was watching the screen over his shoulder, Ayumi grinned at him.

"You're watching this old thing? I still remember when you got it. That guy was really persistent and creepily accurate with keeping up with the changing addresses for someone who never visited."

Takeshi smiled at the older teen.

"Yeah, I haven't improved quite as much as the others, so I'm watching this to perhaps learn something new."

The blonde’s grin softened into a smile as she lifted her head off his shoulder to look him straight in the eye.

"Don't overdo it, ok?" She told him gently patting his shoulder, "you know, when you got these parcels every now and then, you were trying out for the major league from university. And suddenly you said you would give up baseball for the time being and finish your studies in Italy. I really worried about you that time."

Surprised Takeshi took in her now obvious look of worry and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry, I only want to go back to the past after this is all over to play some baseball with my dad and friends. That includes you, once you come to Namimori."

Ayumi sighed but smiled back wryly nonetheless.

"That actually seems like a good plan."

Takeshi frowned at the wording.

"That sounds as if I never make good plans." he whined.

The blond just smirked in reply.

"Oh, you caught that? Well, from my experience..." she let her voice trail off in the end to leave her point for him to interpret.

"Mou, that's just mean." he moaned.

Ayumi didn't reply to his jibe but rather smiled.

“But I think my past self can look forward to that too even if she’s not aware of it.”

Then she met his eyes with uncharacteristic seriousness.

"Don't stay up too long. And good luck." With those words and a small supportive smile on her lips she got up and left the room again.


	4. Invade the Melone base!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsuna does sometimes wonder why he attracts so many strange and frightening situations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the first milestone in the future arc: the invasion of the melone base. But since I don't want to really directly translate the original story into text format, I decided to go with a Tsuna-centric flash back.
> 
> Just so you know, I'll be following the manga timeline, rather than the anime evnts, because I never got around to watching the anime... Didn't stop me from listening to the character songs nonstop or from singing Flaming Rage though...

Tsuna heaved a sigh as he let himself fall to the floor.

That could've gone better, but who was he to complain? Not only was their infiltration of the Millefiore base through the ventilation system connecting it to the underground mall a success, no, all of them were more or less alright and they gained two allies along the way as well.

They faced several foes: Dendro Chilum might have been a pathetic starter, but their opponents' strength had only increased with each new enemy their had to face.

Tsuna would freely admit, he was worried about Lal Mirch after she faced Ginger Bread so he stayed behind to act as a decoy. There was no other reason to it. Fighting four Strau Mosca wasn't exactly his idea of fun - or King Mosca for that matter. He just wasn't the hero type of character. He'd take an easy day of hanging out with his friends over fighting any time.

Then he was taken prisoner by Spanner after defeating the flame fuelled robots. Little to say, that was a strange experience. He could have done a lot worse than Spanner though, Millefiore was a hot pot of psychotics after all, so he was grateful for the reprieve he was granted. He even gained an upgrade to stabilise his X-Burner.

Somewhere along the way Future-Hibari must have been switched for his past-self because their Hibari was in the large tube-like prison with the rest of their invasion force. But at least all of them were awake and well. However Tsuna really wanted to strangle his future-self for involving them in their problems anyway.

Tsuna was still rather unsettled by seeing the human experiments the de

ath stalk unit had become. Merely imagining that could happen to his friends was downright terrifying. Enhanced until they were little more than vegetables with huge bulging muscles that had shed their human appearance in favor of... More muscles. They were basically huge deformed pieces of meat. He felt bad for ending them by testing his completed X-Burner on them, but on the other hand their life could probably hardly be called that any longer. Who knew if they could truly still understand what was happening around them.

And as an added bonus he was able to destroy one of Ginger Bread's bodies as well. On the downside however Spanner got pretty beat up while helping him...

Somehow he even defeated Genkishi. But, hell was his armor scary. Once again he was grateful to Reborn for his spartan training to ascertain he learned the Zero Point Breakthrough, because without that move he would have been doomed. (Their whole operation would have been doomed...) Just as fortunately, for some reason Genkishi had lost his cool after starting to use the Hell Ring. Tsuna doubted he would have had a much harder than than he had already, if that hadn't been the case. (Most definitely doomed.)

And using illusions- he had been messing with him when he said they were connected to the real thing, right? Right?!- of his family against him was really low. He never ever wanted to have to fight against them again. But how must Irie have felt as a double agent? Did he hold any affection for any members of the Millefiore? He must have at one point to join, but did it still hold true? Tsuna didn't know and probably wouldn't ever if he didn't ask the older male.

But there was a more prominent issue at hand now: the revelation that this was all his future-self's plan. Honestly he didn't know what exactly to think. All of this, just to get their past-selves here because they thought they'd be able to defeat Byakuran when their future-selves couldn't?! He must have a couple of screws loose in the future!

Tsuna found himself close to a mental breakdown. What use was all of their potential, if they were killed before they could reach it? Simply because they were lacking the knowledge of this time? Weren't the possible consequences more serious than the any possible gain?

His mind was continuing down a vicious downward spiral right into depression at a very fast pace, while they were waiting for the info from the Varia.

However while they were agonising if the assassination squad had pulled through something unexpected happened. Or better someone.

A head of long golden hair popped out from around the corner of the door to Irie's lab. Sapphire blue eyes wandering over the assembled group until they found Irie.

"Ah, here's where you guys got to. I hope you didn't get hurt too much. And you, you look like you must be the Irie-kun Tsuna-kun has told me about." She greeted with a pleasant smile as she entered the room lugging what looked to be a ridiculously large suitcase as if it were the most normal occurrence there could be.

However it was not. Definitely not.

Besides, when had Tsuna said anything about Irie? Oh, right, his future self...

"Arcano." Surprised Irie replied in what seemed to be some form of greeting as well to the blond teen.

That was all it took for Tsuna to snap out of his stupor.

"Hie, Hine-san! What are you doing here?!" He asked utterly bewildered.

She pouted at the double agent wearing the Millefiore uniform.

"It's bad enough that guy calls me that. I'm Hine Ayumi. Nice to meet you." She admonished the White Spell Squad leader, before turning to Tsuna and his friends with a smile, "I came to see if anybody needed any medical assistance."

As if to underline this statement she held up her suitcase which turned out to be a huge first aid kit. The same one she had lugged around in their base when Gokudera's cat had made it's appearance. Then she blinked. Several times.

"Ara? Tsuna-kun, did you change your style?"

Choosing to ignore the non-sequitur concerning the overall he was currently wearing, Tsuna insisted on receiving an answer to his prior question, "that's not what I meant! How did you get here?"

Hine smiled brightly.

"Through the new front door? I don't know if you're aware of it, but following one of the small scale earthquakes in the last couple of hours, a huge gaping hole opened from the underground mall directly here. I was worried, since you had planned to go there."

Tsuna laughed nervously. Inconspicuous, the X-Burner is not. Perhaps the consecutive use of it was a bit destructive...

Hine however did not seem to let the newly discovered underground base disturb her good mood as she turned back to Irie with a reassuring smile.

"It a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Irie-kun. Our Tsuna-kun has told me so much about you. Though I think I might have to prescribe you something against your stomach pains when you're nervous."

Well at least they could now be certain Irie's claim was legit. If Hine-san knew him...

Irie gave a nervous laugh which only elicited a stern look from the blond.

The topic was dropped however when the holographic projection of Reborn confirmed the Varia had succeeded in Italy and the enemy forces were retreating.

All of a sudden the comms system on the downed Cervello (who Hine had studiously ignored up until now...) came to life.

"Oh, no. This is merely a little break. Both the battle in Italy and the Melone Base in Japan. You have been most entertaining." What Tsuna assumed had to be Byakuran's voice was relayed to them.

Hine's lips twisted into a small frown as she listened to these words and like the rest of them looked over to the hologram. Well apart from Tsuna who was anxiously watching Hine because she wasn't supposed to be part of this at all. Hine's scrunched up her nose in what Tsuna could only label as distaste as she watched the white haired enemy boss.

Tsuna's stomach dropped when Byakuran revealed that he knew Irie had betrayed him and there was an even more terrifyingly overpowering force awaiting them.

However Byakuran saw everything as a game. That might be their luck. Because of that they still had a fighting chance. An official trial of strength between Byakuran's Millefiore and his Vongola. The tre-ni-sette was at stake but what choice did they have? The Millefiore had the power to take it from them if they declined.

Not to mention the real funeral wreaths had 100 A-level fighters at their command in addition to their 5000 subordinates.

It would all come down to Byakuran and Irie's game "choice".

They had 10 days time until it started.

And then the base exploded.

Hine just sat there blinking owlishly when they were mostly unaffected by the disappearance on the melone base because Nii-san from 10 years ago switched with his future-self.

She however gathered herself again soon enough- no one can go without flinching at Onii-san's loud volume for too long- brushed her sidebangs and hime-cut out of her face and started to look over the unconscious members of their group.

Tsuna heaved a relieved sigh when he realised the communication ended and Byakuran had made no direct mention of the mafia. And she didn't seem to think anything was amiss if one discounted the fact she seemed to be talking to the unconscious Yamamoto. Ostensibly the unconscious Guardian did not answer.

Hine seemed to realise this soon enough as she sighed rather dramatically and moved on to put a bandage on Lambo's scraped knee.

Tsuna returned to listening to Irie's explanation of how the force field generated by the complete set on Vongola rings protected them, when Kusakabe-san voiced the point that had Tsuna worried too, "stronger than the previous funeral wreaths... How would we fight with our powers as of now?"

"Then we just have to do it rough." Yamamoto suddenly supplied pushing the blanket of himself and making the others aware that he was once more conscious.

Gokudera harrumphed in his typical fashion. "Making people worry…"

And it would have been ignored in typical fashion, if not for Hine's next words.

"I told you to stop playing possum, Takeshi." She commented offhandedly as she rummaged around in her first aid kit for a band-aid with flowers on it to stick on I-Pin's elbow.

Instantly everyone turned back to Yamamoto with slight disbelief.

"Maa, now you ruined my cool entry phrase, Ayumi!" The person in question whined halfheartedly.

Hine however only shrugged dismissively, "Men..."

* * *

 It was strange to Tsuna, but Hine just watched them receive their new box weapons like it was an everyday thing.

Thinking back to the attack on Kyoko and Haru, yes, probably it was. Nobody seemed to care if they openly displayed their flames here in the future. So was is such a large stretch of the imagination to think they would hold the same disregard for secrecy pertaining to flame weaponry? No, probably not.

However it got even stranger when Spanner caught sight of Hine. His whole face suddenly lit up from his usual apathetic expression and he rushed over to hug the surprised blonde.

"Gemma!"

Everyone turned in fright, mostly having heard the "G-" and the "ma" part and thinking they heard the name of one of their previous adversaries, Gamma, called out. All they saw was Spanner chattering happily to Hine about all sorts of things ranging from his breakfast to cookie recipes he had collected for her to try and the robots he had built in the last little while.

"Hello to you too, Spanner," she greeted when she finally got a word in, "It's good to see you." She gave him a short once over, which Spanner seemed to notice with an indulgent smile. One look was all that was needed to catch the state he was currently in, so it came with no surprise when Hine forced the mechanic to sit down so she could treat him properly.

"Spanner, could you please stay still and not move? That includes your mouth, Spanner, you have a nasty cut there that needs treatment." The blonde pleaded exasperatedly as if she knew his current type of behaviour well enough. Truly, it boggled Tsuna's mind, because Spanner had seemed to disinterested before and now it was as if someone had hit a switch inside him.

"But Gemma, they're treated already." The mechanic feebly disagreed. That was another thing Tsuna had noted, Spanned called her Gemma and the girl didn't even hesitate in responding. Was it a nickname or something? The reaction time indicated she spent quite some time getting addressed with it, so how long did she know Spanner? And how had they met?

Hine frowned.

"No, Spanner, slapping a bandage on top of an open wound does not count as treatment. You might actually have made it worse." She snapped back in admonishment.

Tsuna didn't hear the rest though, he was distracted by the transmission from the Varia coming from his headphones.

Hine looked about as confused as Chrome, Nii-san and the two Millefiores when she heard only half the conversation with the Varia but seemed resigned to it. Hibari, despite being left out like they were, just stood off to the side like always and looked upon what he deemed were Herbivores with disinterest. There was no a chance to fight a strong opponent yet after all.

In the meantime, Hine finished Spanner's treatment and then went on to check the Chrome's blood pressure. She also steadied the still rather wobbly steps the girl took when enquiring about Mukuro's status and fussed over her when she sank to her knees in relief because Mukuro was not listed dead by the wardens of his prison.

Finally feeling less apprehensive about the civilian's presence among them, Tsuna looked to Reborn for input on what to do next and was caught completely flat footed when the hologram of the infant tutor turned to Irie and asked him to join the family. Judging by Hine's chuckle in the background she definitely understood the wrong thing. Damn it, Reborn! She probably thought Reborn wanted to marry him to Irie now. Wrong! That was wrong! Reborn wouldn't do something like that.. Irie didn't have anything that Tsuna would benefit of if they were to marry. At least that's what Tsuna tried to convince himself of. Because Reborn would totally try to marry him off if he thought Tsuna's tutoring benefit from it.

Back on topic: Irie's complete trust in the fact that he was going to join their family however, was pretty surprising given that Tsuna pegged him as the anxious type from their interaction so far.

But not as surprising as Spanner also asking to join.

"I too have nowhere to go and since Gemma is with you guys you can't be all bad, so hire me Vongola.", he reasoned back in his regular monotone.

The answer was easy enough (once he got over the fact that he still, didn't want to become a mafia boss): they had helped them even while they were still working for the Millefiore. If they didn't get to join, who did? Also Hine seemed to know both and his future self wouldn't be as cruel as to introduce homicidal maniacs (who weren't his Guardians) to a civilian, would he?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now, next chapter will finally be the introduction of flame zombies!
> 
> please leave a review and tell me what you think. I'm totally up for discussing different points of my fiction


	5. Flame Zombies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the crew finally see with their own eyes what these flame zombies really are and have to deal with what they find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually had this chapter complete on tumblr for a while, but I didn't get around to posting it here. Sorry.
> 
> Also the first part does not reflect the tone of the chapter. At all. But it get's pretty dark so there had to be some cheerfulness to balance it out... a bit.
> 
> But hey, here's what you've all been waiting for: the first appearance of the flame zombies!

 

After leaving Spanner and Irie back at the remnants of the Melone Base and meeting up with the rest of their friends they returned to the Vongola base in remarkably higher spirits.

It even held on through explaining the whole situation here in the future to Onii-san.

At least the first time.

But he got it now. He had just summarised it back at them.

Finally after five hours...

But he looked confused as hell again when Hine entered the room they were in.

"Oh, did I leave out the children's art supplies? I must've overlooked it when I was cleaning up earlier. Sorry about that, I do tend to try to keep the base tidy despite the kids' dislike for cleaning up after themselves." Hine commented pleasantly as she picked up the spiral sketchbook from the table between Tsuna and three of his Guardians.

Tsuna couldn't help but giggle when he heard that. And a quick glance to either side confirmed that both Yamamoto and Gokudera were not faring any better. He had to agree that Onii-san would probably not become an artist. Unless he went for something like the style Picasso's most famous pieces were in...

Onii-san looked confused but not offended, as he probably didn't realise she meant his drawings with her comment despite watching Hine flip through the pages of the sketchbook he had drawn into during their explanation of the situation here in the future.

More and more confusion dawned on her face the longer she flipped through it.

"Huh? I thought both I-Pin and Lambo were better at drawing people. Usually I can tell who they are trying to depict..."

That was all it took for Tsuna to bust out laughing.

Nii-san however still looked confused. He just looked back and forth between Hine and the boys across the table from him a couple of times before shouting, "I EXTREMELY don't know you!" He declared as always loudly, "I'm Sasagawa Ryohei!"

Tsuna almost face palmed. Trust Onii-san to forget the person who actually bandaged his scraped fists over at the Melone base.

Hine however just smiled at him.

"I know, I'm friends with your future self. I'm Hine Ayumi. It's nice to meet you... again?"

* * *

Of course something had to happen while they were on a break from fighting the Millefiore. Basil had joined them safely enough despite the scare he gave them when he arrived. However the trouble found them when they were sat at their old desks in Nami Middle. Hine had agreed to accompany them and was lounging against the teacher's desk.

Tsuna worried about Yamamoto a bit, because he was uncharacteristically subdued after visiting his home with Hine. Tsuna hadn't gone with them, he'd gone with Haru to make sure she was alright. But when they met up again Yamamoto had worn a fake bright smile that made Tsuna want to cringe.

At least until Hine whacked him upside the head and told him, "don't, Takeshi. I'm sure he's glad to be reunited with your mother once more. Remember what he's passed on to you."

Then she continued dressing him down about the most ridiculous things, like the fact he was apparently wearing two different socks and hadn't eaten the leaks in his miso that morning, until he started whining at her.

But he also forwent the fake smile.

Tsuna did wonder how close Yamamoto was to Hine in the future. It was rather hard to imagine, because they didn't know her yet in their time. But even though Yamamoto was changed with his past self, she seemed to connect to him to some degree. Despite the fact she still cringed at most of their reactions to her, if she thought they weren't looking.

Yamamoto's smile was still tinged with a small amount of sadness as he sat at the desk he was assigned in their class but he did chuckle when Haru burst into the classroom with I-Pin and Lambo. Both of which had ran up to Hine and were chattering faster than comprehensible in their excitement.

Hine had been smiling gently at their antics as she leaned against the teacher's desk, giving the small children the illusion of having her full attention, when the next moment her head whipped towards the windows and her face set in a worried frown.

Tsuna strained his ears.

Did she hear something they didn't?

"We need to leave. Now." she barked with a seriousness that surprised them coming from the otherwise so easy-going teen. Even more surprising to Tsuna however was the fact neither I-Pin nor Lambo got scared by the sudden change in demeanor and obeyed without a single complaint. That didn't extend to Tsuna and his Guardians though.

"Hie?" Tsuna shrieked in surprise.

"Who do you think you are to order Juudaime around, woman?!" Gokudera bristled.

Worry still strongly present on her face, Hine turned to Gokudera and sneered.

"We need to leave. Don't argue. I'll listen to whatever you want to argue about later, when we're back in the safety of the underground base. Now, you'll just have to trust me about this. We need to move."

"Already? We only just got here. I haven't even gotten to do any practice swings on the baseball field!" Yamamoto whined half-heartedly. Tsuna was glad he seemed to trust the blond enough to treat her with such familiarity, but he couldn't help but feel it being misplaced in this setting.

Hine sighed.

"Yes, Takeshi, now. We need to detour to the roof already and you practice in the training rooms every day." She instructed with a tone of finality that left no room to argue.

Tsuna realised instantly that Gokudera would continue to argue and Yamamoto probably wouldn't move quickly enough for Hine if he didn't move first. And with the urgency only very thinly veiled in Hine's voice Tsuna didn't need his hyper intuition to tell him he needed to move and needed to do so now.

"Well we've done what we wanted to do now, so if Hine-san believes we should leave, we probably should. We'll get to go to school again more than we want to once we're back in the past after all. Let's go, guys." He agreed and moved to the door where Hine was waiting. The others followed him, even if Gokudera was giving Hine the stink eye. She accepted that easily enough as she herded their group to the roof. Tsuna had wondered why exactly they needed to go via the roof but he got his answer a moment later.

"Hibari-kun, we have to leave."

"Hn."

"This is not up for debate."

"..."

Tsuna just watched her in amazement. Was she suicidal?!

Another sigh left her lips as Hibari refused to even acknowledge her any longer.

"Well if you don't believe me, look into the school yard."

Of course that caught all of their attention. And just as naturally all of them looked down through the fence and saw a group of people standing just inside of the school gate. They looked normal enough. Their hair colours were a bit funky though and their faces reminded Tsuna of what Hibari looked like when he was out for blood. Not the expression exactly… But maybe the feeling? He couldn't put his finger on it, but their presence was definitely rubbing him the wrong way despite not knowing why exactly.

At least he didn't until they finished looking around in confusion and suddenly started to attack each other.

Shocked to say the least, their group from the past watched with morbid fascination as suddenly the ones fighting in the school yard lit up with multicoloured flames and started strangling, choking and biting each other. Their flames intermingled and entwined until some of the colours were extinguished and some of the people dropped to the ground where they lay lifelessly. Only Hibari didn't look appalled at the scene. In fact he looked intrigued and about to jump in to join the fray. If not for Hine holding him back by the collar of his shirt, he probably would have.

"This, ladies and gentlemen," She explained in a carefully controlled voice, "is what our Tsuna and the others like to refer to as 'flame zombies'. If you encounter one, run for it. For any more information you'll have to ask Bianchi."

Tsuna nodded mutely. He didn't trust his voice at the moment as his eyes were stuck to the horrid scene below as the 'flame zombies' had started to draw blood and only became more vicious for it.

"Come on, we have to get out of here, before they notice us." Hine muttered gently pulling them away from the fence and pushing them towards the door again. She kept her grip to the back of Hibari's shirt and lead the way to the cellar where she then opened a hidden panel in the wall to reveal a secret door with the pulling of a lever.

"Welcome to the foundation headquarters." She said obviously trying to lift the tension a bit, "Our Hibari-san's life's work. Also know as the Namimori Disciplinary Committee, which is the reason it's connected to Nami Middle apparently."

Hibari gave a short but acknowledging grunt while still being pulled by the back of his shirt like a petulant child (his arms crossed in front of his chest as well). The rest of their small group except for Tsuna, who had seen it the last time around with future-Hibari, looked around in amazement.

"It's connected to the main base, but you need special access grant to enter it." Hine continued to explain as she lead them back through several corridors to their main base.

Surprised at that little bit of information Tsuna looked at the blond teen.

"And Hibari-san gave it to you?"

Hine just giggled.

"No, I asked Kusakabe-san for it, in case of an emergency. And since my case is quite well known in our group he granted me access."

* * *

Bianchi found herself confronted with a group of rather anxious middle schoolers (sans her little brother) after their trip to the town. She looked rather resigned as if she knew exactly what they had seen despite not having joined them. She probably did.

She sighed and buried her face in one hand.

"I'm probably not the best person to ask about those." She muttered mostly to herself. In the anticipating silence currently reigning however they could hear her words quite clearly.

"Should we ask someone else?" Tsuna asked hesitantly.

Again she sighed.

"No, there are only two people who would be able to give you a full account. One of which is currently unconscious in the infirmary and the other is too close to the subject of the matter. She refuses to talk about it. So I'll have to do it."

Then she turned around abruptly and started walking down the hallway. However when none of the middle schoolers made any move to follow her, she turned back and merely raised a single eyebrow.

"Are you coming? You're not expecting me to explain out here in the hallway, are you? We're going to the briefing room. Do me a favour and grab everyone who needs to know. I'm not going to repeat myself."

* * *

"Ayumi-nee-chan! Quick!" Lambo urged as he pulled the blond teen along by her hand. Ayumi obliged as the boy was so upset that he was tripping over his own feet trying to get her to help with whatever it was. He hadn't even told her what he was so upset about. Knowing Lambo however it was something about someone he cared very dearly about, because if it had only been him wanting attention he would have just outright demanded it rather than become all flustered about it.

The five-year-old finally let go of her hand once they entered the room the girls and younger children were sharing.

"Ayumi-nee-chan has to fix Haru-nee-chan and Kyoko-nee-chan! They got home and they cried like they have ouchies, but Lambo-sama couldn't find any ouchies!" The exuberantly worried five-year-old exclaimed.

Ayumi frowned worriedly as she laid her eyes upon the huddled together sobbing forms of the two girls. Deliberating her next course of action for a moment, she watched the two inconsolable girls before she sighed and joined the two girls on the bed. Gently, as not to startle them she placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

"I understand." She whispered sadly. Just as gently she lifted their chins so she could look straight into their tear stricken faces.

"I know, it is hard to comprehend what you have seen this afternoon. And I fully agree with you that there are few things more horrible than what you have witnessed." She told them calmly.

Uncertainty glistened in their eyes as they internally debated whether it would be better to try to forget what they had seen or accept the knowledge the world wasn't safe because there were people or things like flame zombies out there.

Again Ayumi sighed before she pulled them in for a hug. She laid their heads on her shoulders and continued talking to them on soft soothing tones.

"It is easier to avert your eyes from the truth. It is so very easy to live life like a happy dream where no one needs to struggle and no one is in need. But our world does not work like that... There is more than just a light side to a coin. For every person there comes a time when they are confronted with the dark side of our world. Some people get to only see some of the lighter parts of the darkness, some spend their whole lives immersed in a mixture of both. Some like you are introduced the worst way possible by confrontation with one of the darkest aspects there is. But you mustn't forget, there is always a reason for the dark as there is always a reason for the light."

Ayumi paused there and just let her words sink in. She only resumed when she felt both of them nodding against her shoulders.

"There are people out there who do not wish to be honest. They harm others by manipulating them and by stealing from them. Some even murder and kill other people. Flame Zombies are not the way they are by choice and they weren't born that way either. They did not come to be naturally. They used to be normal people like you and me, who were noticed by the wrong people. People without morals who selfishly take other people's freedom to fulfil their own ambitions. They manipulated their bodies until they were in such pain that they broke apart. By all means they were killed when they were forced to become like that. No longer capable of coherent thought, only trying to soothe the agony."

Pulling back in shock the two teens looked at Ayumi with wide eyes.

"That's horrible!" Kyoko cried out.

"Who would do such things?!" Haru added.

Ayumi smiled gently but sadly at the two of them. At least they could still feel compassion despite witnessing such a horrible scene.

"People without respect for the worth of a human life, Haru-chan. It takes so much pain to bring a single life into this world. Yet they do not appreciate what they were given, they feel they need more. And I agree, Kyoko-chan, it is truly horrible to have to live like that, if you can still call their existence a life. Always in pain, always yearning for relief, yet unable to understand just what they want and therefore resulting to violence like a toddler who doesn't know how to get what they want. Don't you think to them death is mercy? That the short moment of pain when they die is so much more preferable than the endless days, weeks, months and years of agony? Don't you think, if they could choose, they would choose to rest eternally?"

The two girls looked rather conflicted by the implications but seemed to give the question some honest thought.

In the meanwhile Ayumi got up from the bed and stretched her legs to get back the feeling in them as she got up. Then she turned back to them and asked, "don't you think people who play with other people's lives without regard to their worth should be stopped? Even if it means they have to die?"

* * *

Bianchi was already waiting in the briefing room when they finally rounded up all of Tsuna's conscious, teenaged Guardians and Basil.

By some stroke of luck... No, actually the mere mention of flame zombies had already been enough to pique Hibari's interest, so he followed them at a distance he was comfortable at.

And seeing the large group move with a purpose, Reborn had attached himself to Tsuna's shoulder.

Thankfully Bianchi was already wearing her goggles to obscure her face, so Gokudera did not keel over the moment he entered the room. But she was impatiently drumming her fingers on the table as she eyed each of them critically. She didn't even acknowledge Reborn's presence with more than a short nod. If that didn't speak of the gravity of the matter, then nothing did.

"Is that all of you?" She asked tersely, "if not, I'll leave it to you to relay the information to whoever is missing now, because I'm starting now. Take a seat. You'll need it. The following is not feeble minded."

Tsuna gulped but did as he was told as the wall behind Bianchi now showed a projection of what seemed to be the official CEDEF report due to the large CEDEF logo displayed and mirrored on the screens in front of them. That might explain why she was not the best to ask when it came to that topic. She had obviously only read the report not compiled it. Yet she would still know way more than their group from the past, so at least a basic instruction was sorely needed. Especially since she seemed to be very unnerved by the concept of these flame zombies.

Tsuna's Guardians followed suit, none of them in the mood to aggravate the already tense woman. After witnessing what those… were they still people or should he rather classify them as wild beasts?... things?... did, all of them knew, whatever information they were going to be given, they would most likely not like it.

"You asked about the flame zombies," she opened her explanation, "and since most of you looked like you'd seen a ghost when you returned, I take it you came across one of them."

Reborn tilted his fedora to shadow his eyes on Tsuna's shoulder. The young Mafia boss to be could tell the Hitman was intrigued but he remained silent. Perhaps he hadn't been aware of the flame zombies?

Nobody said a thing, so Tsuna spoke up, "not only one, but a whole group of them. They … fought each other."

Everyone noticed his obvious stumble when expressing what the flame zombies had been doing, but his friends seemed to feel similarly about it. With the exception of Hibari, who seemed indifferent.

Bianchi nodded and switched to the second slide of the report.

"Taking the members of your group in consideration, that makes sense. But we'll get to that later. The entity 'flame zombie' first came to the attention of the Vongola about four years ago when there was a series of incidents involving a single flame zombie each. They were killed in the end, but at the cost of several casualties. Not all of them caused directly by the flame zombie involved, but the original had infected fighters they had managed to engage in close combat. That's why someone had the bright idea to call them flame zombies. Unfortunately it stook despite sounding absolutely ridiculous. The official scientific term is 'broken'. Hardly anyone uses it though."

Bianchi sighed. Tsuna however fought the urge to facepalm. Was that name really so ridiculous when the Mafia fought using flames and box animals? The official term was hardly better. But was that really worth a mention when those things were downright scary?!

"However four years ago was only the point when the Vongola Alliance became aware of them. The northern provinces' famiglia had incidents involving them as far as 7 years back," Bianchi amended showing them a map of the iconic boot that was Italy and its surrounding countries.  
"Apparently it ties in with the destruction of a small research facility inside the Swiss border, called Laboratorio Esterno in the official documentation commercial register of the canton Ticino, that had been razed down by an unknown group of flame actives."  
Bianchi paused there looking decidedly green as if she was struggling with what she was to say next.  
It was Reborn who interrupted the silence before she could overcome whatever was hindering her.  
"Who did it?"  
The answer to that question seemed way more palatable for Bianchi, or perhaps she just didn't want to disappoint Reborn, because she didn't lose a beat answering, "the investigation was inconclusive. The only thing the investigation could fathom was it was done with all seven flames of the sky and the perpetrators had to have had quite a grudge against the research staff. The corpses were burned beyond recognition and none of the research could be salvaged."  
Reborn frowned.  
"Including the sky flame? It could only have been a famiglia.", Gokudera supplied equally grim.

Bianchi mirrored his expression with a nod.  
"It would seem so, if not for the fact nobody claimed the kill. If a famiglia had been involved they would have laid claim to it no matter how shallow the reason for doing it, simply because of the boost in recognition it would give them for having enough flame users to manage such a feat."  
Reborn gave a short nod in acquiescence before continuing, "who conducted the investigation?"  
The slide behind Bianchi changed to depict another map with an area marked red, a word in Romaji which was most likely a name and a coat of arms.  
"As the facility was only just inside what you'll recognise as Ex-Estraneo territory, the family who took over their territory after their fall: the Pesca famiglia."  
Reborn snorted.  
"So we can forget about the accuracy of the investigation. The Pesca wouldn't find any reliable evidence even if it were to jump straight at them."  
A small mocking smile blossomed on Bianchi's face but disappeared a moment later when a annoyed sneer took its place.  
"Not to mention they never shared their report with the rest of Cosa Nostra, not even their allies, despite the very real threat of the infection spreading. The Vongola alliance had to hack into their database. Not that that was very hard, they might as well have just given it to us. But the fact remains the infection was able to become this bad is because they didn't share their information. As soon as the origin of the flame zombies was clear, CEDEF conducted their own investigation, but that was three years after the destruction. By that point the reliability of the evidence had already drastically declined. There was however still flame traces to be found. Only enough to prove that all flame types were involved, but their remaining presence in itself speaks for very powerful flames for there to still be lingering traces years later."  
Tsuna paled. He didn't like the direction this was going.  
"Was it connected to the Mafia?", he voiced hesitantly, "the research facility, I mean."  
Reborn looked at him with approval for thinking to ask about that. (Right after looking decidedly murderous for daring to ask what amounted to a _very_ stupid question, before he amended what he'd really meant.)

Bianchi motioned to the next slide of the report projected behind her.  
"I was getting to that: as I said before, none of the research could be salvaged. We can only assume what they were researching there. Any and all documents were disintegrated through liberal usage of storm flames. No chance of reconstruction. Most of the room designations were scorched too. Whoever did this was thorough. The CEDEF was however able to reconstruct some writing that seemed to come from one of the larger rooms of the facility by scanning the wall fragments for paint components. What it spelt out however did not bode well."

Again Bianchi changed slides to show a black and white image full of little red computer generated squares creating barely legible letters.

" _Vero Estraneo…"_ Gokudera hissed incredulously.

Tsuna whipped his head around in shock. His eyes met Gokudera's whose face had lost most of it's already pale colouring as well. They remembered that name well.

"Exactly _._ All Evidence points to the Laboratorio Esterno belonging to a branch of the destroyed Estraneo famiglia."

Tsuna's knuckles turned white with how hard he gripped at the briefing room table.

"The ones who conducted human experiments and were obliterated by Mukuro and the Kokuyo gang when they left?" He asked to make completely sure.

"The very same," Bianchi confirmed.

Tsuna grit his teeth.

"Does this mean the flame zombies are most likely a product of failed human experimentation?"

None of the teens in the room looked particularly happy about this. Even Reborn shadowed his eyes completely.

Bianchi sighed.

"Most likely. There is however no concrete proof for that claim. All possible witnesses seem to be… broken or dead. But the full image would support your theory."

Again the slide on their screens and behind Bianchi changed.

"It translates to: 'even the stars will not limit us. For we are the true Estraneo,'" she explained in a clipped tone, "knowing what the Estraneo had been up to before their demise, this sounds very much like a declaration to do much worse."

Tsuna clenched his fist so hard he could feel his blunt fingernails drawing blood from his palm. He just couldn't understand people who did things like that. Of course there would be people like Mukuro if there as people who insisted on creating them! But instead of getting those, they imprisoned the one who struck back.

"Back to the hard facts," Bianchi resumed, "an individual is broken by severely fracturing a their dying will flame."

"Aneki, that does not make any sense." Gokudera interjected gruffly, "you can't fracture a flame."

Bianchi just lifted a single eyebrow in silent challenge.

"That's what we thought up until four years ago. While it might be true for a normal flame, it is possible to fracture and break dying will flames."

The image onscreen changed, now showing the outline of a human with an orange flame inside it.

"Dying will flames are created inside your body as a manifestation of your will. There is a pseudo-organ which generates and stores these flames. Decreasing the stored flames in this pseudo-organ will tire you out, emptying it will outright kill you. Scientists call this pseudo-organ 'core'. There has been some experiments to find a reliable way to determine the extent of a person's core, but a solution has yet to be found. A 'flame zombie' is created when the core of a person is set under enough stress to crack it. If not treated a crack will turn into a break, resulting in a 'flame zombie' whose core constantly leaks flame into their body creating a lack of flame in the core."

While Bianchi was explaining the image on their screens showed what she was describing. First the flame shrinking, then disappearing and the outline of the human disappearing as well and finally a flame with a crack which evolved into a break that split the flame in two causing the flame to leak into the whole outline.

"Now, a 'flame zombie' loses all coherent thought. They are driven only by the pain they are in from constantly leaking their flame and want to alleviate this pain. They will act on instinct alone. Unfortunately their instinct is to stop the leak by stuffing it with strong flames. Statistics show that flame zombies will most likely go after a person with the same flame as they have-…"

Confused Tsuna interrupted, "then why do they go after Hine that much?"

Unimpressed Bianchi finished her sentence, "flame zombies will most likely go after a person with the same flame a they have or Hine Ayumi. Although if both are viable options, they will most certainly seek out Ayumi. The prefered order of victims is: Ayumi, strong flame of the same type, strong flame of another type, weak flame of the same type, weak flame of any other type and flame inactive. If there was any semblance of intelligence in the masses of zombies chasing Ayumi, we'd assume there was someone targeting her specifically, but there isn't. So we're at odds when it comes to why she is their main target."

Tsuna bit his lip. That last fact didn't help alleviate his guilt for berating her after Kyoko disappeared at all. She must've had to evade some flame zombies at that time...

Again the slide changed, this time showing a stupidly accurate image of what Tsuna had imagined a flame zombie to look like before today: a comic image of a grey half-rotten corpse on fire.

"If you encounter a flame zombie by all means try to evade it by a large margin. They are usually not exactly intelligent. The alliance has trained operatives around taking care of the infestation to reduce the risk of flame zombies going after civilians. They will deal with the rampant flame zombie. If you can't evade and are forced to engage, keep it at a distance and kill it as fast as possible.", Bianchi explained before she was once again interrupted by her brother.

"You said usually."

Bianchi smiled wryly.

"Well caught, Hayato. Yes, I said usually. Once a flame zombie has consumed a considerable amount of flames the body will be sufficiently saturated so the core has a base-level of flames needed for coherent thought. When that point is reached the flame zombie will regain a semblance of personality. The most accurate description of this personality would however be a vicious psychopath. If you encounter one, you might as well curse your rotten luck, because they are incredibly rare. They are also exponentially more dangerous than the normal kind. The flames flooding their bodies enhance a normal flame zombie's senses and their strength, but in combination with coherent thought only the most experienced fighters come out such a fight without cracking or outright breaking. "

Tsuna chewed his bottom lip. Didn't that just sound peachy? But there was another issue he was concerned about.

"You said a flame zombie used to be a normal person. Is there no way to restore their cores? Do we have to kill them?"

Bianchi frowned in understanding.

"There is no other way known to neutralise them. Many Mafia-affiliated doctors have been broken trying to find a cure for flame zombies, so ultimately the Vongola-Alliance has banned it. They're to be either evaded or put down."

She regarded all of them with hard, unrelenting eyes.

"That's why it is so important for you not to let a flame zombie get close to you. A reliable way to treat cracks has yet be found and if you break, everything's over."

With both flame zombies and the Millefiore, how much worse could their future get?

Uncertainly Tsuna looked at his Guardians, all of them wore grim expressions.

Except for Onii-san, who chose that moment to break his uncharacteristic silence up until now and explain aforementioned silence.

"I EXTREMELY DON'T GET IT!"

The rest of them just groaned.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On a little side note, I really had to incude the first scene, because I read Bleach before KHR and they always go on about Rukia's abysmal drawing skills. And then I saw Ryohei's... and there's a motivational poster somewhere in the depts of the internet about it. And as I already pointed out, I really needed something lightherated because this chapter is rather depressing otherwise.
> 
> As always I'd appreciate if you dropped a comment. And thank you to all of you who've followed the story!
> 
> For any of you who feel inclined, hit my tumbler where I post some fanart, including illustrations for this story, and I have my ask open if you're confused about anything or want to discuss my headcanons or any other part of the plot.
> 
> And also it was KHR week the week before last, so looking around tumblr is a treat anyway.


	6. Preparation (boys' side)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsuna comes to some startling conclusions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason I took so long with this chapter... Tsuna decided he wanted to grow as a character.
> 
> Yes, all of the character tend to have their own minds. Hine and Dino too.
> 
> Warning: offscreen non-canon death :D

 

Tsuna stopped his bike when his hyper intuition nudged him to look to the door just as a figure- probably Bianchi as she had rather obvious female curves, visible despite the heavy motorcycle gear she wore- entered.

Watching the boys for a moment she stood next to Giannini.

"It seems you've managed to contain the Storm flames' disintegration aspect. And you've managed to bridge the problems you had powering the motorcycle with the rain flames' tranquility factor... Looks like you've properly adapted the bikes to all 7 flames. Did you update my bike too?"

Her voice was quite muffled by the helmet she wore but still sounded distinctly female therefore confirming his suspicions that this must be Bianchi.

Looking up slightly disgruntled the small rotund man huffed.

"Of course I did. I obviously need the opinion of an experienced test driver to get an accurate reading of what needs adjusting."

The woman hummed.

"Your bike is where it always is." Giannini added which elicited the smile evident in her voice when she said, "I guess I'll have to take it on a test drive then."

Seeing nothing wrong with that and quickly deciding he'd probably imagined the intuition part, Tsuna returned to his own practice since he still hadn't gotten a grip on how not to fall from his bike. At least it wasn't too heavy, Tsuna thought to himself. He had heard motorcycle accidents could be pretty dangerous because of the sheer weight of the bike falling on the driver. Giannini had obviously thought of the dangers they we likely to get into and made them from some light but ridiculously sturdy alloy. He wasn't going to ask what it was though, the technobabble would go straight over his head and he still had to learn how to properly balance the bike.

Tsuna wasn't really making any progress on that end. It didn't surprise him though. He hardly had enough sense of balance for his own body, how the heck was he supposed to figure out how to balance his body with the addition of a motorcycle in such a short amount of time?

Incidentally his drifting thoughts didn't help either, as he found himself losing control of the bike while trying to turn so he wouldn't smash straight into the wall of the training room they were using. And while he couldn't figure out the balance yet, he had a very good grip on knowing when he messed up on it.

Right now? He had messed up big time. He was probably going to wind up in that wall head first or scraping his leg off and still crashing into the wall if he knew his luck.

He was saved however when suddenly a bike came up next to him and it's driver - the completely obscured Bianchi - leaned over and proved she had at least the same amount of genius when it came to handling a motorcycle if not more than her brother because she managed to steer his bike away from the wall by leaning it onto hers and gently pulling both bikes around.

"Now slowly decrease the speed and call it a day", she instructed through her helmet, "I know I will... You're too tired to concentrate."

Tsuna did as told while she drove her bike over to where she had probably gotten it from. And having most likely planned her timing precisely, when he finally pulled to a stop in front of Reborn and Giannini, Bianchi popped back in to inform them the welcome party for Basil and Onii-chan would start soon, therefore saving him from his Tutors well meant tur-tutoring.

* * *

Tsuna could only think of one thing as he sat in the med bay as Hine provided first-aid for his many scrapes, bruises and burns he got from opening his box weapon.

Good thing she and the girls hadn't been there, because he would never forgive himself if anything were to happen to them.

Hine wore a mild smile as she carefully dabbed the salve on a particularly nasty bruise on his cheek and asked, "How ever did you manage this? You weren't injured from practicing on your bikes earlier on and we only just finished the welcome party for Ryohei-kun and Basil-san. You didn't even have a half an hour since…"

Tsuna scratched at the back of his head sheepishly. He did feel kind of bad to have to rely on Hine to patch him up again only three days after the raid on the Melone base. Especially after Bianchi had managed to keep him from getting injured earlier on.

"I kind of tripped… and collided with the stove?"

That was another issue, if they were to train with their boxes they would need credible excuses for their injuries if this event was any indication.

Well, having Hibari around, who is always known for biting people to death, was in some cases rather handy after all.

Hine chuckled good naturedly and ruffled his hair gently.

"You have to be more careful, you know. Did you at least check the stove was still turned off or will there be another surprise for me when I'm on my way back to my room?"

Tsuna huffed. Somehow he felt like Hine was treating him like a little child just now.

"Basil and Yamamoto were there two, you know," he defended himself truthfully, "oh, and then a guest arrived!"

Hine hummed and placed some gauze on an burned gash she had just closed with steri-strips and fixed it with medical tape.

"Really, who came?", she enquired almost absently.

"I did," Dino suddenly spoke up from the door making both Hine and Tsuna look up. A smile lit up the blond teen's face when she visibly recognised the person entering the room.

"Dino-san! It's good to see you again!" Hine exclaimed delightedly as she brushed her sidebangs out of her eyes with the back of her right hand.

Dino, now holding a bouquet of white gardenias - which Tsuna had no idea where he had gotten them from since the last time he'd seen the other had only been five minutes ago - entered the room without stumbling once- so Romario probably got back into Dino's 1 km radius- and handed the flowers over to Hine.

"Bella, it has been too long," Dino greeted enthusiastically pulling Hine into a hug, mindful of the flowers in her arms and kissing both of her cheeks.

He earnt himself a slap to the arm for that, but Hine didn't look that upset when she admonished him, "how many times do I have to tell you, it's not normal to greet someone like that in Japan?!"

Instantly Dino deflated with an almost childish pout.

"Sorry," he admitted sheepishly.

Smiling gently Hine patted his arm as if in acceptance of the apology.

It all seemed to be in good humour, but it did make Tsuna wonder what was up with all of her nicknames…

"There's cake in the fridge, if you want some," Hine mentioned casually as if she hadn't just admonished the older blond, "that goes for you too, Tsuna-kun."

Well, Tsuna guessed she had probably just happened to accumulate them. However it was quite a feat to keep track of all of them… but the mention of cake definitely had him up in no time.

As they made their way to the kitchen, Tsuna asked what had been on his mind, since Dino had appeared in the med bay.

"Hine-san, how did you and Dino-san meet?"

Hine blinked in surprise. But then giggled.

"Dino-san used to frequent the Takesushi whenever he was in town to visit you. And after I started working there he tried flirting with me the next time he came."

Tsuna was quite surprised by that admission. Hine was quite a few years younger than the blond mafia boss. Perhaps Dino had assumed her to be older since she acted so maturely?

"His attempts were dreadful, I'm sure his men will agree. I even think Romario-san was debating if he should gag him," she added lightly decidedly making Dino groan.

"Ayumi!"

She giggled.

"At least until I mentioned I was underage. Then Dino-san floundered around some excuses and we've been friends since."

Tsuna looked at his self-proclaimed big brother skeptically while Dino buried his face in the palms of his hands.

"Ayumiiii~", he whined eliciting a light chuckle from the girl in question.

She looked at him in mock seriousness.

"But Dino-san, I couldn't let Tsuna-kun think you were one of those creepy foreigners whose greatest ambition is to bed a highschool girl! I mean your tattoos make you look like a yakuza already..."

The blond man groaned resignedly but didn't retort. Apparently that topic had been breached before. Tsuna knew that reaction well, because it was the one he showed when his mother _once again_ tried to convince him of something he would never be seen dead doing.

Tsuna laughed slightly embarrassed by the girl's antics and shared a pitying looks with Dino.

"Ayumi, you're messing up my cool mature big brother image in front of Tsuna." Dino tried to reason with Hine.

She gave a mischievous grin and shrugged.

"I think being able to laugh about your faults is plenty cool. And I know Esmeralda agrees with me."

She was obviously thinking another complaint would come in reply to her comment because Hine turned to Dino expectantly. But she wasn't prepared for the look of utter heartbreak on his face. Instantly she stepped closer to the Cavallone boss, cupped his downcast face in her hands and asked, "what's wrong? What happened, Dino-san?"

In that moment Tsuna felt like a total outsider. Uncomfortable he debated if he should leave but he froze when he heard Dino's next words.

"Ayumi... My Mamma... She's dead.", Dino told her in a barely audible pained whisper, "The Millefiore killed her."

His eyes were positively broken as he met her shocked gaze. And then the shock wore off and deep grief filled the sapphire orbs.

"No, Esmeralda... No...", she whispered even less audibly as tears gathered and dripped from her eyes.

The two shared a short look, full of mutual pain before tears fell from Hine's eyes freely and Dino stepped in to wrap his arms around her to lend her his shoulder to cry on. Dino held her tightly and buried his face into her hair in what Tsuna deemed an effort to hide his own tears.

It was a heartbreaking scene. And Tsuna felt he'd be intruding if he stayed any longer, so he chose to give them the privacy they deserved in order to mourn as he silently headed to his room.

While he was walking he couldn't help but mull over the situation.

He didn't know how Hine knew Dino's mother but it was evident she had been rather close to her. Close enough to be absolutely heartbroken because of her death.

Dino's mother had been a victim of the Vongola (allies) hunt. Even if he didn't believe anyone other than his own father would actually pull through on leaving his wife totally oblivious, he didn't think the Millefiore would have spared her had she not known. They were ruthless enough to hunt anyone close to an ally of the Vongola.

But not only was anyone close to him in danger, no, even the ones safe from the Millefiore were affected.

Hine had known Dino's mother despite being civilian and had now been confronted with losing someone she obviously held dear.

Tsuna frowned.

Death was obviously a very real aspect of mafioso life.

Once again Tsuna resolved to keep his mother and his civilian friends as far from the mafia as possible. Because the pain Hine was obviously in from knowing a friend of hers died was horrible. He might not be able to avert his own fate of becoming mafia, but he would do his damn best to keep Haru, Kyoko-chan and his mother from having to deal with death more than absolutely necessary.

Which meant he had to get all of them out of this alive.

* * *

Haru looked around in the kitchen curiously. Both Kyoko and Chrome watched her do so with equal curiosity - though the latter tried to hide it with how shy she was.

"What are you looking for, Haru-chan?"

"I'm looking for Ayumi-san, she's always already awake when we get to the kitchen!"

Kyoko hummed in approval and gave the kitchen they were in her own cursory glance.

"Maybe she overslept?" She supplied carefully, "She'll probably join us before breakfast."

Breakfast came and went, but Ayumi was not to be seen. Instead the girls were introduced to an Italian man named Dino who claimed to be Tsuna's big brother and was an excessively messy eater.

It was however cute to watch him interact with their friends in such an enthusiastic and openly friendly manner, so they overlooked his clumsy table manners.

When breakfast finished and Ayumi still hadn't shown yet Haru chose to voice her concerns to the rest of their group.

"I haven't seen Ayumi-san yet today."

Most of the group looked around in confusion, as if they only just realised the blonde teen wasn't around. That alone made Haru feel insulted. It was as if they weren't important enough unless they needed something from them.

"Che, making people worry. She's probably out for supplies again. That's what happened last time," Gokudera scoffed.

Haru was just about to chastise the delinquent for bad mouthing the absent blond but Yamamoto butted in.

"Ha ha, she might just have decided to sleep in."

Affronted Haru turned to the two.

"Hahi! Ayumi-san, wouldn't do that without telling someone! Last time she told Fuuta-san!" She told Gokudera before looking at Yamamoto with less anger stating, "and she never sleeps in. Not once in all the time we've spent here."

Fuuta nodded absently. An unhappy frown marred his face.

"That's true, Ayumi-nee never sleeps in and she always at least tells someone if she leaves the base."

Tsuna looked decidedly uncomfortable.

But it was Dino who got up from the table before any more could be said. There was now a deep set sadness to his eyes, that had Haru rub at her eyes because she was sure it hadn't been there just a second earlier.

"I'll go and get her."

* * *

Hine watched their group with a smile from her spot at the door as Dino told them he'd assign each of them their tutor. Romario was nowhere to be seen, nor were any of Dino's other subordinates, but for some reason Dino still acted like the confident mafia don he was around his subordinates. Strange...

Why Reborn next to him was dressed up as... He called it a tutor fairy, right?... Tsuna really didn't know, but it must be to take the tension away somewhat. Or he was giving his tutor more credit than he deserved again and it was simply a fetish of his.

Oh, damn, by the look the small hitman just threw him he had read his mind again.

"Sorry for being late, by the way. I wanted to come here to help you train right after the ceasefire was called," Dino apologised to the group as he rubbed the back of his head abashedly, "I would have come earlier but there was a group of flame zombies on our trail and we had to loose them first lest we'd lead them right to your doorstep. You do know about flame zombies though, don't you?"

Hine's snort was heard all the way over from the door. It was a mild snort, as if she thought he was indulging in a bad habit. She probably thought so of his needless apology.

But Tsuna couldn't help but think it had an edge of sadness in it that hadn't been present 24 hours before.

She walked up to the blond mafia don as she casually informed him, "yeah, unfortunately they found us first, Dino-san. There was a whole group at the middle school two days ago."

Instantly Dino's face fell from mildly apologetic to downright remorseful.

"Are all of you alright?"

Hine held up her hands in what was supposed to be a calming gesture but seemed to worry the blond mafia boss even more. She sighed but let Dino fuss about her.

"We're all fine. Luckily we were all in the school when they tracked us and I could round up all of our group to leave via Foundation headquarters before they got to us," she explained, "however that means they are probably still in town and will be a very real danger to your men."

Dino frowned.

"Noted," he conceded, "it's not like we expected to be able to evade them for long. So my men know to be careful and adhere to the rules. But I'll notify them."

Hine seemed relieved to hear that as a small smile lit up her face before worry darkened her features again when a small ping resounded in the training room they were occupying. With a sigh she whipped her phone out, followed by the sound of several buttons clicking.

Another sigh followed when she found what she was looking for and she turned to Dino with a apologetic smile.

"Lal-chan needs to take her medicine now and she won't take them unless I'm there to kindly force it down her throat."

Dino waved her off.

"Don't worry, I've got this. I'll make sure they're okay."

With a small - was it only Tsuna or was it slightly disbelieving - chuckle she left the training room.

"As Reborn's number one pupil…" Dino recommenced stepping closer to them. But then he stumbled and fell face first onto the floor. Thus his following words were rather muffled.

"I'll be in charge of pairing up everyone with a tutor for their training sessions."

Ah, there it was again, Dino's clumsiness when his subordinates weren't around.

* * *

Tsuna didn't like the situation one little bit. His head hurt thinking about his current problems.

For one, there was the girl' boycott.

Then there was the approaching fight with the Millefiore and the fact that he'd only get trained once he managed to open his box weapon.

Which lead his thoughts to the uncontrollable flame beast he'd unleashed the last time he had opened his box weapon. (Again his box weapon shook angrily.)

And then there was Hine. Or more accurately the contradictions she presented.

She seemed to know as little about the mafia as his mother and the girl's, but then again she didn't seem surprised when Dino told her his mother had been killed by the Millefiore. Nor did she ever ask where their injuries came from. Or what they were training for.

Basically her behaviour didn't make any sense unless she was as scarily oblivious as his mother was. Something in his mind however denied that notion.

(Vongola hyper intuition the same something remembered Reborn's words.)

With a great big sigh, he returned to the task at hand and thought back to what Dino had given him as a clue to open his box weapon.

"You have to make sure you and your box weapon are in harmony unless you want more trouble like last time. The user has to always make sure to keep their box by their side, no matter what."

No matter how many times Tsuna thought about it, he couldn't make any sense of that clue.

But Dino had made it clear he had to first open his box weapon before his training could continue.

Well maybe he could try to solve his 'problems' one by one.

Therefore starting from the most approachable one… Hine seemed pretty close to Dino, so he'd probably know if he asked.

Without much ado Tsuna tracked down the blonde Cavallone don and waited for him to take a break from training Hibari.

When he finally did and jogged over to Tsuna there was a light smile on his lips.

"I won't give you another hint, Tsuna. Even if you my little brother."

Not even offended - the thought to ask for another clue had crossed his mind - Tsuna shook his head.

"There's something else I wanted to ask you. To be honest, I'm confused. Does or doesn't Hine-san know about the Mafia?" Tsuna asked his big brother figure.

Dino blinked.

"You're only asking now? Hasn't Ayumi been here since you guys got here from the past?"

Embarrassed Tsuna rubbed the back of his head.

"Shortly after and she did disappear for supply runs for several days a couple of times… And I didn't know who to ask, since it would have definitely been bad to ask her directly if she didn't know!"

The blonde Mafia don chuckled lightly as he ruffled the boy's hair.

"Right you are. But you needn't worry. She's in charge of the base infirmary, isn't she? Ayumi has been part of the Vongola ever since she finished her stint as a private doctor. That's a story for another time though."

Tsuna looked at the blond slightly confused.

"How is that a story?"

Dino chuckled.

"Well that was right after she finished her medical degree and she didn't appear at a job interview. Apparently she had met her patient, a young lady from a distinguished, wealthy family, when she escaped to town and was promptly hired. Her employers didn't want it to be known that the young lady was ill so she was not allowed to impart the name of the family or her location. Your future self almost had all of the allied famiglie up in arms and on the lookout for her."

Tsuna looked at his brother figure incredulously. Dino seeing this chuckled and ruffled his hair again.

"There had already been several attacks on several low level members of famiglias allied with the Vongola. Maybe I'll give you the unabridged version some other time. God knows our Tsuna could have used the foreknowledge."

That made sense. He could imagine he'd be frantic with worry if one of his civilian friends suddenly disappeared after there having been connected attacks on the alliance. But it was the next sentence that made Tsuna want to bash his head against the closest wall.

"But you know you could have asked Lal Mirch about Ayumi, right?"

Tsuna facepalmed instead.

Now that it was mentioned Tsuna seriously could've hit himself for not thinking of it. If they were close enough to have coffee and cake over his training, Lal Mirch was sure to know.

"Thanks, Dino-san."

* * *

"How are you feeling, Lal-san?" Tsuna asked as he sat down on the chair next to the infirmary bed.

The blue haired lady just scoffed.

"Shouldn't you be training?" She asked right back.

Of course Tsuna cringed. Yes, he was quite aware of what he should be doing. He was however also aware of the fact that he was making zero progress.

"So you know you should," she stated plainly, "that at least means I won't have to tell you, since you do actually know. What brings you here then?"

"Well… The girls have declare they'll boycott-"

At that his former trainer bit out a bark of laughter.

"It's not like you didn't deserve that."

Again Tsuna cringed. He knew that too.

"But that isn't the actual reason you visit. Having trained you the past weeks, I know it'll probably be something stupid like you feeling responsible for my current state."

And that might aswell have been the knockout blow, if this had been a fight. As it wasn't Tsuna just visibly shrunk in on himself and looked miserable and ashamed.

It kind of was his fault for deciding to go on with the invasion of the melone base and for allowing her to come with them, despite knowing her fragile condition. And while not going along with the invasion would have probably been a mistake, letting her come along had definitely been.

The blue haired woman snorted and met Tsuna's eyes defiantly.

"It's not like a brat like you could have stopped me. I'm an adult. I make my own mistakes. I chose to disregard my treating physician's professional opinion. And I am bearing the consequences." She said encompassing the IV and several bottles of medication standing close to her with a dismissive wave of her left hand, "don't think too highly of yourself. For all that your future self is Decimo, the head of the famiglia doesn't have any power the CEDEF."

Tsuna was thankful for her attempt to make him feel better (hidden as it had been) but that didn't change anything.

Except somehow it did.

Suddenly it all fell into place.

It had started out with the nagging feeling of not having all information.

At least that is what he'd believed it was.

In reality, he had known - subconsciously at least - that here in the future he was the boss. No matter how much he wanted to deny it and no matter how many efforts he must've made in the ten years following up to this not to become a mafia boss. He was Decimo. His word was absolute when it came to the famiglia. (At least it was supposed to, but Xanxus was never good at doing as he was supposed to.)

He'd recoiled from the idea of holding so much power and so much responsibility. Much like he did in their time. That was the main reason he did not want to become a mafia boss.

But he'd still known that he held this power in his future self's stead as long as they were stuck here as they had effectively taken the places (and taken on the roles) of their future counterparts.

His hyper intuition had been nagging at him to get the information he needed to fill his role.

He hadn't which was why his subconscious had been making him feel immensely guilty and that in turn made him look for scapegoats to shift the blame on. A despicable thing to do in hindsight but entirely human.

It was his responsibility. If he used his power or not. He realised as much now.

Determination settled in his mind. It by no means cleared away the insecurity he felt. (That would take a very determined army or three at this point.) But it was a start. It wasn't a solution but a path which could possibly lead him there.

He returned Lal Mirch's gaze with surprising ease despite the gravity of the issue he'd realised.

"That does not change the fact that you were injured because my silence allowed you to join a famiglia operation. I can not afford to make mistakes any longer, there is just too much at stake. But to be able to do so I need information."

"Information you think I have."

"Yes. I need to know about Hine-san's role in the famiglia."

"Wouldn't it be better to ask her directly?"

"Something tells me, she wouldn't tell me the full extent of her abilities."

"The rumoured Vongola hyper intuition is spot on again. You're right. She keeps her knowledge close She's a rain attribute and she can sense flames from quite a distance. She has completed my boss training course in a decent amount of time for a fighter without the use of her flame but I've never actually seen her fight."

"Hie! Why did she have to take your training courses?"

"She expressed her interest."

* * *

"Wait, didn't she say, she had no flame?", Tsuna asked utterly bewildered when he finally realised what had been nagging at his mind since he'd talked to Lal Mirch in the infirmary earlier.

They were currently convened in the kitchen and eating lunch. Or, well, what should have been lunch but now consisted of instant food.

At least they wouldn't run out. They didn't even make a dent in the supplies of instant food in the pantry despite having had the last three meals from there.

"She who?", Gokudera next to him asked like always eager to help him.

"Hine-san."

His Guardians nodded.

"Yeah, when Giannini went on about her getting into the base without being detected.", Gokudera supplied.

Tsuna scrunched up his eyebrows.

"Then why did Lal Mirch say Hine-san has a rain attribute flame?"

Bianchi who just walked past the kitchen that moment looked at them almost dispassionately.

"She emits no flame wavelength. But she cannot not have flames otherwise she wouldn't be alive. All living beings have a flame. Ayumi just doesn't broadcast them or particularly like to use them. We know she has rain flames because before the destruction of the Vongola rings our Yamamoto had made her take the Vongola Rain Ring whenever she went on potentially dangerous errands for the Vongola. He wouldn't do that if she couldn't light it. Since Yamamoto was the closest to her, we figured he would know her flame type."

Tsuna nodded in understanding as she continued to where she was off to and looked at Gokudera's unconscious form on the floor next to him with mild concern.

Hine, who Tsuna had not noticed entering the kitchen at all despite Lambo toddling after her and was just passing with what smelled like a pot of heavenly spaghetti, chuckled.

"While I don't emit a flame wavelength, that doesn't mean I can't ignite a ring, boys. You just assumed. That's a bad habit to have by the way. Especially for a mafia boss, Tsuna-kun."

Then she left the room taking the pot with her and the boys' hopes for good food with them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please review or drop an ask at my tumblr. I don't bite. Though I'll probably answer ;)


	7. Preparation (the girls' side)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls will not take it face down when the boys decide to know what is best for them. Fortunately they are not alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, now that we've seen the boys prepare, let's have a look at what is happening with the girls running support.  
> Let me just say, that for being a woman herself, Amano Akira has very few strong female characters in KHR. Bianchi is strong, but her love of Reborn is quite creepy and she doesn't really get much action, Chrome is used as a plot device to have Mukuro around and Yuni... I love the cinnamon roll to pieces, but she isn't exactly pro-active.

The boys soon all left to their training while Ayumi calmly re-entered the room and stared at the wall behind Tsuna's motorcycle silently.  
She didn't have to wait for long before the two of them dropped the piece of cloth which was concealing them.  
The girls sighed in relief. It had gotten rather stuffy behind the tarp, so breathing fresh air was a true delight.  
Ayumi watched them silently waiting for their explanation for their impromptu hide-and-seek game, but she also looked mildly proud of them, which gave Haru the courage to speak up.  
“We know they are keeping the secret to keep us safe, but we don’t need to constantly be protected. We can help as well!”  
The blonde in front of them smiled gently and picked up the tarp they had dropped and calmly folded it for them.  
“I know,” was her simple reply, “I know that you wanted to trust in what they told you until you could not help but see the proof of their lies. I know your future selves to this day still believe in the web of lies they span to protect them. But you girls have been confronted with unshakeable proof of the secret kept from you. You’re perfectly right to demand answers because you do not demand them in ignorance but after contemplating the reasons behind the secrecy. The boys will just have to learn that ‘damsel in distress’ is not a title a woman will bear if she has any choice in the matter.”  
The two girls looked at Ayumi with hope blooming in their hearts. After all the blonde had never outright flipped them off. Asked them to rethink their demands, yes, but not outright denied them.  
“While our Tsuna asked me to look after your group from the past, he never explicitly stated that I should keep you oblivious. Right now I think you two should find out what you believe you need to know. Because quite frankly, I think you deserve to know, but I am not the one who should tell you. That responsibility lies upon the people who are trying to keep the knowledge from you.”  
She draped the now folded tarp over her arm and turned towards the door.  
“So, do we want to get Bianchi-san, Chrome-chan and I-Pin-chan in on this and plan what we’re going to do to make the boys listen to our demands? But please, take of those ridiculous pieces of cloth you’ve tied under your noses. It makes you look like a common thief.”  
A little embarrassed Kyoko and Haru did remove the offending piece of cloh they had tied around their heads in an attempt to look sneaky.

* * *

Exhilaration evidently bubbled over with their chuckles as they returned to their training room after telling the boys they would no longer stand for the lies and secrets.  
“We’ll see how long the boys take until they realise how important the support you give them is,” Ayumi commented, “I know for a fact they’re hopeless at any type of chores.”  
“It’s interesting how they instantly accused me of telling them and still assume you know as little as the girls do,” Bianchi chimed in.  
Ayumi shrugged.  
“It’s not like I promote how much I know. Knowledge is power.”  
Kyoko regarded the blonde teen with new found admiration for this admission. Truly, she herself hadn’t thought there was more to the 17-year-old than met the eye apart from the unusual knowledge in first aid. If she was honest with herself, Kyoko wanted to do the same as soon as she found out what Tsuna and her big brother were hiding from them. She disliked making her brother worry about her. If acting oblivious stopped him from worrying about her, she would. But she would still arm herself with knowledge.  
Ayumi then turned to the men in their entourage.  
“Well, Reborn-san, Fuuta-kun and Giannini-san, thank you for supporting our cause.” She expressed their gratitude graciously, “This way the boys will have to see reason. After all, you don’t disrespect the support, don’t you agree, Giannini-san?”  
Giannini nodded resolutely even as he took off the high heels and removed the ridiculous make-up with a makeup remover wipe from Bianchi.  
“Our Decimo knows this, but this Decimo still has to learn this. Better now than later.”

* * *

 

Kyoko was sprawled on the floor of the training room they commandeered as she poured over the thick medical compilation Ayumi had given her. She could however just not concentrate on its contents.  
Chewing her lower lip she contemplated what Bianchi had told them while they were in the baths.  
She had said the boys didn’t tell them because they didn’t want them to change. But that was plain stupid, why would they change? They’d stay the same normal two girls they were now. The only thing she could very well imagine was if it was something dangerous, then they’d probably worry. But they did that anyway because they didn’t know what was going on.  
There was no way the boys could be involved with something worse than what they could come up with by themselves when they worried about them.  
Furthermore there was no reason for them to protect the girls. They could do so themselves perfectly well. Or at least they would as soon as Ayumi taught them enough.  
Then she thought of the wound on Chrome’s back and her words back in the bath.  
The boys were going to much lengths to keep them safe and happy and currently cooking was the only thing they could do to support them, but keeping the truth from them was not okay.  
She had agreed with Haru to break off their boycott, but would the boys ever tell them if they didn’t force them?  
A sigh left her lips as she tried to look at the situation from every possible angle.  
“Every time you sigh a little bit of happiness escapes, you know?”  
Startled Kyoko turned to see Ayumi standing in the doorway.  
“Ayumi-san, you’re already back?”  
She swung the plastic bag in her hand around idly as she crossed the room and sat against the wall in front of Kyoko.  
“Jep, the kitchen is stocked with instant ramen again. So the boys won’t starve despite their obstinacy. They’ll be malnourished if they don’t get their heads out of their behinds though.” She replied easily, “I got some pudding for us and the children. Where’s Haru-chan?”  
Humming in agreement Kyoko turned to the page before as she realised she hadn’t retained a bit of the information she’d just read.  
“She went to check on Lambo, because she doesn’t trust Gokudera-kun with him.”  
Ayumi chuckled.  
“Ah, she’s probably right with that. I’ll just message her to bring Lambo-kun back with her. I got enough pudding for the children as well.”  
Then she reached out and closed the book Kyoko should be reading but had already half given up on.  
“Okay, now tell me what’s on your mind.”, she demanded gently.  
Again Kyoko sighed but complied.  
“Haru-chan and I agreed to break off the boycott but I can’t help but feel the boys’ll never tell us what they’re currently keeping from us. And despite wanting to trust them that they’re only doing this for us, I want them to share the burden with us.”  
Thinking about it for a moment Ayumi’s reply was a simple one.  
“You’re probably right about that too.” She told the girl straight out, “if it wasn’t Tsuna-kun we’re talking about, but your big brother and the other boys.”  
She set the plastic bag she had still been holding to the side and held both her hands out like a scale.  
Holding one up she explained, “the boys’ male pride demands they protect you by keeping the secret, but you showed them that you know something is wrong and you want to know what it is. You’ve also showed them this issue is important enough to you to make you boycott the household chores you took upon yourselves to support them. Now you’ve decided you’re stopping the boycott because you don’t want them to carry the burden by themselves no matter how mad you are at them for keeping things from you.”  
Kyoko nodded. That pretty much summed up their situation.  
Ayumi continued, “the rest of the boys would feel themselves confirmed in their belief that they were doing the right thing. But knowing Tsuna-kun, who is way to innocent and nice for this world, he’ll feel guilty for being supported by you, despite not actually helping you gain something you want - knowledge in this case. Which he could readily give you without any consequences, only his male pride on the line.”  
Then an unholy grin lit up Ayumi’s face.  
“So basically, the best strategy is to be obnoxiously too nice to him. Be yourself, stop the boycott and by doing so guilt trip Tsuna-kun into telling you.”  
Kyoko blinked.  
So… ending the boycott was _actually the right way to go._  
It was a win-win situation.  
When Ayumi put it like that Kyoko knew what she would aspire to be like when they returned home.  
As long as she paid enough attention while keeping up her normal behaviour she could gather all information she needed without tipping the boys off.  
The boys wouldn’t worry and she’d still be informed and able to help. Yes, that’s what she would do. She wasn’t quite sure if her acting skills were good enough for it to work, but she would have to see.  
For now though she would follow Ayumi’s lead.  
They could hardly keep on letting the boys starve themselves when they clearly needed the nutrition to combat an enemy the girls might not really know about yet but still threatened them. And if by doing so they got what they wanted, then double win.  
“Anyway! I seem to have forgotten the meat for dinner despite Bianchi reminding me before I left. Would you mind going to the shop for me to get some?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to check out my tumblr: aquamarinesong  
> I'd love to chat :)


	8. Anxiety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The inevitable match of Choice is drawing near. And the tension in the Vongola base is rising accordingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, took me a while to post this. I got lost in Giglio Nero dynamics.  
> And I really dislike chapters close to canon, because I'm kind of a perfectionist and want to be as close as possible but hate looking it up.  
> I really wanted to show the characters' reactions a bit more... mainly for the girls, because honestly, would it have hurt the sales of KHR that much to add some characterisation to Haru and Kyoko?  
> Also I think Bianchi is awesome... if she got over Reborn. Because... no. Just, no.  
> Anyway, I hope you like it. Please drop a review!

“Ouch, Ryohei-kun really didn't’ hold back when he socked you, did he?” Hine commented as she carefully dabbed some salve on his split lip.  
Tsuna just shrugged with an embarrassed chuckle.  
“Well, he was understandably angry I had told Kyoko-chan.”  
Silence reigned as she got up for a different tube of salve and applied it to his bruised cheek equally carefully.  
Then she sighed.  
“I know he's her big brother, but it didn't do our Kyoko any good to be kept unaware. The girls were in constant danger and couldn't even take precautions because of it. It's a miracle nothing happened to them.”  
Tsuna frowned. He hadn’t actually considered that. He had been more concerned about his friends from the past to think of the implications of how their future counterparts had lived.  
He flinched as Hine applied come gauze to his cheek with medical tape.  
“I guess you’re right,” he agreed, “but Bianchi tricking me to believe Kyoko had run away again was mean.”  
She smiled calmly at him as if she knew more than him (she probably did) and amiably supplied, “well, you’re just too nice for this world, Tsuna-kun.”  
He sighed, dismissing the notion of trying to find out what she knew and disagreed, “no, I was being selfish and ignorant.”  
Brushing off some lint from the gauze off her shorts she straightened up and held out her hand to pull him off the infirmary bed he’d been sitting on while she patched him up.  
“Sometimes it’s okay to be selfish. You wanted to protect them. It’s noble of you, but ultimately it’s futile. There’s a thin line between being a gentleman and being an idiot trying to hold a girl back. The difference lies in protecting her from threats she can’t handle and acting as if she was a ‘damsel in distress’ unable to look after herself. It’s hard for them to come to terms with the truth, but they’ll become stronger for it. Being ignorant however is a good way to get everyone you care about killed.”  
Tsuna shrunk back at the harsh reminder of the severity of their situation.  
Hine evidently noticed as she smiled kindly.  
“But now you’re aware of your mistake. You know what you have to do now. And look at the bright side, telling Kyoko-chan helped you figure out how to use your Vongola box.”  
Tsuna nodded in agreement.  
“Realising you were part of the Vongola in your own right and talking to Lal-san helped too. I wouldn't have managed had I not finally concede I was effectively Decimo in this future.”  
Hine chuckled.  
“You didn’t know I was part of the Vongola?”  
He threw her a glare, but was well aware there was no heat behind it.  
“Don’t act as if you weren’t actively cultivating the notion you were civilian.” Then he sighed, “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you knowing this stuff.”  
Again she chuckled.  
“Believe me, you do. Your future self did, didn’t he? And he thought exactly the same thing.”  
Tsuna blinked.  
“Wait, what?!”  
Hine just laughed.

* * *

Bianchi had long heard the footsteps approaching and was quite aware Ayumi was leaning just outside the door since she had gathered Kyoko and Haru in Ayumi’s room for privacy.  
The two girls were understandably devastated by the information Tsuna had shared with them.  
First they found themselves in the future with no idea how to get back and then they had to find out their friends (and family) were involved in something dangerous and they weren't told about it.  
Then finally when they’re reluctantly been told about it, they're told there’s someone out to kill their precious people. All of which happened because they were involved with the organised crime which was the mafia.  
In fact Bianchi was amazed they weren’t breaking down worse. But she credited that to the strict training regime Ayumi was putting them through. She had taught them to prioritize knowledge first and the act upon the information in the most beneficial way, so they were probably trying to do so but struggling.  
It took the girls a while before they had pulled themselves together again after breaking down in tears of fright and worry, but when they did it was Kyoko who in a bid to distract them asked: “Where are we? Is this your room Bianchi-san?”  
Bianchi gently shook her head and walked over to the door.  
“No, it isn’t. But I figured you’d appreciate the privacy. This is one of the few completely soundproof rooms in the base.”  
Then she opened the door and without looking pulled in Ayumi by her collar.  
The blonde complied calmly, simply raising an eyebrow at the older woman as she followed her into the room.  
“And I assumed the owner of the room wouldn’t have anything against it. Do you, Ayumi?”  
The blonde shook her head negative.  
Of course that had the two girls look around the room of the most elusive resident of the base in intrigue. The room wasn’t exactly personal. In fact the few things present were very utilitarian, but it distracted the girls from their worries enough to be able to talk about something more mundane than they had been trying to wrap their heads around.  
“Hahi! Is this us from the future?!” Haru exclaimed as she spotted the one personal item in the whole room. A single, framed photograph on the bed-side table.  
With a fond smile Ayumi walked over to pick up the photograph before she sat down in the center of the room where the girls were sat on the small, circular beige plush rug which if Bianchi recalled correctly their Tsuna had to drag into this room himself to give it some semblance to personalisation.  
Ayumi handed the picture to the girls with a small nostalgic smile while Bianchi sat down next to her.  
“I look so mature!” Haru exclaimed happily.  
“That orange-red haired woman next to Onii-chan, is she his girlfriend?” Kyoko asked excitedly.  
Ayumi just shook her head fondly at their enthusiasm but answered her question nonetheless.  
“Well, actually no. She had been the sparring partner his teacher had organised. But you know your brother, he insisted on bringing introducing her to your family during one of his holidays back when he was doing his apprenticeship.”  
Bianchi added.  
“His girlfriend actually lives and works in Namimori.”  
Kyoko smiled happily upon hearing these news.  
“Is this Yamamoto-san who has his arm around your shoulders?” Haru asked next. How could she not, any girl dreamed of romance and loved to hear a good love story.  
“Hm? Yes, it is. I think the picture we took before this one was ruined by a blur from Gokudera who threw off the arm Takeshi had draped over his shoulders. And then blew up at him for touching him so casually.” Ayumi answered with a slight chuckle, “this was in our third year of university just before they left for Italy to complete their studies abroad. Takeshi was lamenting the fact he’d not get any homemade meals anymore. As if they were going to starve… I swear, sometimes he acted as if I’d been his housekeeper rather than his tutor.”  
The sheer absurdity of the reported behaviour made all all of them laugh. It was in this lighthearted laughter that Ayumi chose to breach the girls had struggled with before.  
"You know, Tsuna-kun and his friends knew he was going to become a mafia boss back when this picture was taken. In fact they had already known for seven years by then." Ayumi explained gently, "And they had already fought and won several fights in their own right with no one outside of their group the wiser."Instantly the laughter was forgotten as the girls looked at the blonde in shock.Bianchi waved her hand dismissively."Don't be alarmed. They look happy in this picture, don't they? They even got up to their usual shenanigans.” She reminded the girls, “They got through all those fights without much more than a couple of scratches and some bruises.”  
Ayumi nodded in agreement.  
“They have already fought some battles back in your time. But they’re still the same, aren’t they?”  
The girls looked thoughtful at this statement.  
Haru bit her lip.  
“Were doing the same as they did, aren’t we?” She asked wide eyed.  
Kyoko gasped in shock as she realised what the other girl was talking about.  
“We are, aren’t we?” Kyoko agreed turning to Haru, “We wanted them to trust us, but didn’t trust them ourselves. We don’t want to let them prove they can handle it themselves, because we don’t want them to change or to get hurt. We’re treating them just like they were treating us.”  
The two older women nodded proudly at the two girls’ realisation.

“They know how there are things worth fighting for and for which they strive to become strong." Bianchi explained gently, “that’s just the way our boys work.”

* * *

Tsuna was surprised to find someone still sitting in the kitchen when he entered it for a glass of water. It was the dead of night just before their match with the Millefiore.  
He didn’t think any sane person would still be up at this time. He’d been awoken by a rather nasty nightmare himself and would prefer to still be sleeping (without having a nightmare).  
But there was Hine, sitting at the dining table, nursing what he suspected to be a glass of strong alcohol.  
Unsettled (what was a seventeen year old doing drinking alcohol? The legal drinking age was 20!) Tsuna watched her for a couple of moments before he chose to make his presence known.  
“Hine-san?” He asked quietly as he walked into the barely lit kitchen.  
Only the emergency lights were still on and illuminated Hine’s face with a light greenish glow.  
The teen startled and almost knocked over her glass as she looked up to see Tsuna standing several steps behind her.  
“Tsuna-kun!” She exclaimed in surprise. Her voice despite the half-empty glass before her did not show any signs of slurring. “Why are you up?”  
Tsuna chuckled a bit at the ironic question.  
“I could ask you the same.”  
She smiled as the irony caught up on her. Perhaps she was actually a little inebriated nonetheless?  
“You’re right. I’ll answer you if you answer me.”  
Tsuna shrugged and took a seat across the table from the blonde.  
“I woke up thirsty.”  
Her smile dropped in what Tsuna thought was most likely suspicion before she sighed and answered in a deceptively mild tone, “I couldn’t sleep. Too many things on my mind.”  
Tsuna held back a sigh knowing well enough her tone meant she would only answer in full if he did so too.  
They sat in silence for a moment before Hine snorted.  
“Weren’t you thirsty?”  
Tsuna blushed in embarrassment when he recalled why he said he’d gotten up in the first place but had dismissed as less important when he’d seen Hine alone and still awake in the kitchen.  
He got up quickly and got himself his glass of water before sitting down across from Hine again.  
Taking a sip of water, he took a moment to watch Hine, trying to determine her mood, while she was absentmindedly sloshing around the liquid in her glass.  
She looked lost in thought completely dismissing his presence.  
She said she had a lot on her mind, didn’t she. Perhaps he could help her sort her thoughts? He did have his share of heavy thinking the last couple of days and would have appreciated the help.  
“What are you thinking about?”  
Again she startled before looking at him with a sheepish smile.  
“I just totally zoned out, didn’t I, Tsuna-kun? I’d do well to remember you’re not your future self...” She answered candidly.  
Tsuna hummed in thought.  
She wasn’t usually so open. Yes, she was open and friendly and a warm presence, but Tsuna always felt as if she were not being completely herself. Like she was wearing a well crafted mask which she was missing right now.  
“So what were you thinking about?”  
She flinched, barely noticeable in the bad lighting but Tsuna had caught the movement. A sigh fled her lips and a sardonic smile settled in its place as she glanced back at Tsuna.  
“I’m worrying about tomorrow’s battle. The Millefiore are strong.”  
Tsuna frowned in response.  
He too was worried. They needed to win to return to their own time.  
“You’re right. I’m not my future self. I don’t know you quite as well as he does and I am not sure of myself. But I will do all I can to win tomorrow.” He told her. His voice didn’t sound as sure as he’d like it to, but at least it didn’t sound as afraid as he felt.  
Hine met his wandering gaze and she set down her glass with a hard clunk.  
“A couple of years back I was sent to the future by means of Lambo’s ten year bazooka,” she told him, “the world ten year later from that point was not a place you’d want to live. It was a world where Byakuran could do as he liked.”  
Tsuna gulped. So he was doomed to fail. Was that what she wanted to tell him?  
She cast her eyes down.  
“You mustn’t let him win.”  
Hearing these five words, Tsuna once again felt the weight of the expectations of his future self on his shoulders. A weight that was about to crush him.  
How should he win, if she’d seen the future in which they’d been defeated already?  
“But you just said, I’m doomed to fail! I’m only a middle schooler. Why do I have to fight in the first place?!” He asked hysterically.  
Hine looked up surprised by his outburst, but smiled sympathetically.  
“I guess such is the world,” she said her tone full of self-loathing, “where the youth must correct the mistakes made by the ones who walked before you.”  
Instantly Tsuna stopped and looked at the older teen in surprise.  
Self-depreciating laughter bubbled past her lips as she covered her eyes with one hand.  
Tsuna watched with morbid fascination as Hine too seemed to break down. Her voice remained even and strangely steady, but her words were so faint he could barely hear them.  
"Tsuna-kun, the future has already changed. Your selves from this time had never been sent to the future. That was our Tsuna-kun’s gamble. The Tsuna-kun from our time only passed the Vongola ring succession two years ago, when Nono handed the famiglia over to him. He had yet to properly learn how to use his enhanced flame potential because leading the famiglia came first.”  
She picked up the glass and knocked back its contents in one go.  
“Tsuna-kun, you might only be a middle schooler, but you can make the difference right now. You mustn't let him win.”  
Amazed Tsuna met Hine’s eyes when she finally let her hand drop from her face.  
She had just managed to give him hope again when his fear had just about crippled him. And the unwavering trust in those sapphire coloured eyes were enough for him to believe that there was actually a chance for him to get his friends and himself back to their time.  
She was as afraid as he was. Because she knew she would have to continue living in this world even if they lost. But in spite of her fear, she believed in them with all of her heart.  
This trust made Tsuna realise how close Hine must be to their future selves. Somehow Tsuna couldn’t help but be envious of his future self for having such a loyal friend. Because rather than his other friends who were dragged in by Reborn and weren’t quite aware how much it entailed, the girl in front of him knew. She knew well.  
“Please don't let him win." She pleaded quietly, "I can't live in a world where he wins."  
Tsuna frowned but remained silent as Hine resumed.  
“The future I saw… I was switched with my self who was imprisoned by Byakuran. Please Tsuna, there are many things I can handle. But having what I consider most precious taken from me, will kill me.”  
Sitting there in that moment Tsuna realised Hine wasn’t so different from him. Sure it took some strong alcohol to make her break down and spill her problems, but she too carried hopes, dreams, fears and weaknesses.  
He smiled weakly at her.  
“I’ll give it my all to defeat Byakuran. But you know, if I were in your place, I’d probably cry from the knowledge I’d wind up in Byakuran’s care.”  
She chuckled mirthlessly.  
“I won’t cry. Tears are a sign of frustration at one's own inability. Inability to change something, inability to help, inability to accept or inability to keep on going without another. Ultimately it's one acknowledging one's inability. I won’t cry as long as I can still do something. Anything.”  
Tsuna honestly didn’t know what to say. On one side he could admire the strength it took to live by this conviction. It didn’t exactly sound like a healthy way to live though.  
Luckily he didn’t have to say anything since someone else did instead.  
“Okay, tea time’s over. I thought something was wrong when you didn’t come and force me to take the medicine. So here’s where you were.”  
Looking up Tsuna saw Lal Mirch standing at the door dressed in the nightdress she’d worn ever since she’d been put in the infirmary.  
She walked over briskly, but Tsuna could see the slight clenching of her jaw and the stiffness of her movements as she fought the pain.  
“She’s quite out of it for her to spill this much. Can’t tell with her because she acts as if she were completely sober, except for actually letting people look past her mask. Must be bad if she actually results to drinking. Ayumi is the type to bottle her feelings up until they break her and then walk over the shards barefooted,” she muttered mostly to herself.  
She gently took Hine’s arm and coaxed her to get up by herself. Then she looked to Tsuna who was watching their interaction carefully in case she needed any help.  
“I’ll take her from here on, Sawada. Get to bed, you need to be ready for tomorrow.” She bristled when she realised what he had been doing.  
Tsuna got up hastily, stumbled and almost fell (and he would have taken the table with him) but managed to catch himself before that happened.  
Hine giggled at his clumsiness and Tsuna could now easily tell the alcohol had actually affected her after all.  
Lal Mirch heaved a long suffering sigh as if she was long accustomed to this kind of behaviour from Hine.  
“Come on, I’m taking you to your room.”  
Hine shook her head and made her own way to the door.  
“’S occupied. And I don’t want to wake them. I’ll crash in B13-18.”  
Tsuna didn’t know which room had that exact designation but Lal Mirch obviously did as she frowned.  
Hine didn’t get far, because Lal Mirch’s fist collided with the back of her head before she even took a second step.  
“No, you won’t. You can take mine. I’m still stuck in the infirmary. Now get up and going.”  
Tsuna smiled at the interaction between the two. Their dynamic reminded him of how Gokudera would interact with Takeshi or Ryouhei. In their case Lal Mirch was the ever bristling Gokudera, while Hine calmly accepted her ire and would talk back calmly.  
“Sure, sure, I’ll crash in your room. If you take your medicine.”  
Except, unlike Takeshi and Ryouhei, Hine gave back as good as she got.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to point out that Ryohei's sparring partner just inserted herself. I don't know where she came from. But I tend to have that problem. At some point a whole 12 characters decided to insert themselves into the narrative...  
> And please, I am not encouraging anyone to drink. It just happens Ayumi does not open up unless inebriated.


End file.
